LEARNING TO RE 



A Manual for Teachers 




SPAULDING & BRYCE 



NEWSON & COMPANY 




Class A,!) ibji.1- 

Book uQL^L'b— 

Copyright N°- 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



THE ALPINE READERS 

LEARNING TO READ 

A Manual for Teachers 



BY 

FRANK E. SPAULDING 

SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS, NEWTON, MASS. 
AND 

CATHERINE T. BRYCE 

SUPERVISOR OF PRIMARY SCHOOLS, NEWTON, MASS. 



NEWSON & COMPANY 

NEW YORK 



Copyright, 1907, by 
NEWSON & COMPANY. 



6 



^ 



6 



n;; 



V ,-b 



lUSRARY of CONGRESS I 
! Two Gooies Rocelved j 
\ JUN 26 130/' j 





INTEODUCTION 

The term "method" is used in this Manual for want 
of a better one. Here it has not, however, the quite 
usual meaning of an elaborately wrought out system of 
formal devices. It refers mainly to the sum of principles 
and processes whose application has been found most 
effective in accomplishing a definite result, teaching chil- 
dren to read independently. 

The method described is not the outgrowth of untried 
theories of teaching reading. It is rather the description of 
certain processes of accomplishing certain results, processes 
founded on sound psychological principles, which have 
been wrought out and perfected in scores of schoolrooms 
during the last six years. These processes have not been 
simply tested in a few exercises, with a few children; 
several thousands of children have been taught constantly 
and solely in accordance with principles and plans set forth 
in this Manual. There is not a plan nor a device herein 
described, from the least to the most important, whose 
practicability and worth have not been abundantly 
demonstrated. 

The size of this Manual is not due to any difficulty in 



iv INTRODUCTION 

the method described ; the method is exceedingly easy both 
to comprehend and to apply. The Manual is large be- 
cause in it the authors have tried to make every least step 
plain and to give an abundance of helpful suggestions, 
so that teachers of little or no professional training may 
learn how to teach reading, the foundation of all school 
work, successfully. Processes and methods are not de- 
scribed merely with the direction to follow them ; the rea- 
sons for every process, for the use of every least device 
even, are fully discussed. This phase of the subject has 
been elaborated in the firm conviction that reading can be 
taught successfully only by teachers fully intelligent con- 
cerning the mental processes involved, the purpose and 
the effect of the methods employed. Such intelligence is 
especially necessary that teachers may be quick to perceive 
when the purpose which any process or device is intended 
to serve has been accomplished. 

The manuscript for this Manual has been read critically 
by several teachers and others, some familiar and some 
unfamiliar with the method described. It is hoped that 
the subject is presented with sufficient clearness and com- 
pleteness. Communications regarding any difficulties or 
questions whose solution or answer cannot be found in 
the Manual, are invited by the authors. 

The working out of this system of reading has been 
possible only through the cooperation, always sympathetic, 
intelligent, and enthusiastic, of many teachers and princi- 
pals in the public schools of Passaic, N.J., where the sys- 



INTRODUCTION 



tern originated, and of Newton, Mass., where the system 
has been developed and perfected. The authors take this 
opportunity of expressing their sincere appreciation of the 
services of these teachers and principals. 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 
CHAPTER - 

I. The Method Explained ^ 

o 

1. Stones 

2. Rhymes 

7 

3. Pictures ' 

• • ft 

4. Dramatizing ° 

5. Objects and Objective Teaching 13 

6. Sight Words 15 

7. Phonics 16 

8. Consonants 

9. Vowels and Type Words 26 

10. New Words 34 



11. Drill 



37 



12. Reading. ...;...-• 38 

13. Expression . . ■ ^^ 

II. Books, Charts, and Other Materials .... 57 

1. The Reading Chart and the First Books ... 57 

2. Cards ^9 

3. Rhyme Charts . . 61 

4. The Phonic Chart 62 

5. Script and Print 68 

6. Seat Work 69 

7. Supplementary Reading '1 

III. The Primer, pages 1-4 ; The Chart, page 2 . . .73 

IV. The Primer, pages 5-9 ; The Chart, pages 3-4 . . . 82 

vii 



VUl 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER 




V. 


The 


VI. 


The 


VII. 


The 


VIII. 


The 


IX. 


The 


X. 


The 


XL 


The 


XII. 


The 


XIII. 


The 


XIV. 


The 


XV. 


The 


XVI. 


The 


XVII. 


The 


XVIII. 


The 


XIX. 


The 


XX. 


The 


XXI. 


The 


XXII. 


The 


XXIII. 


The 



The Chart, pages 5-6 
The Chart, pages 7-8 
The Chart, pages 9-10 
The Chart, pages 11-13 
The Chart, pages 14-15 
The Chart, pages 16-17 
The Chart, pages 18-21 



Primer, pages 10-14 

Primer, pages 15-17 

Primer, pages 18-23 

Primer, pages 24-30 

Primer, pages 33-39 

Primer, pages 40^6 

Primer, pages 47-55 

Primer, pages 56-64 

Primer, pages 67-88 

Primer, pages 91-103 

Primer, pages 104-108 

Primer, pages 111-123 

Primer, pages 124-138 

First Reader, pages 3-5; The Chart, pages 22-24 

First Reader, pages 6-10; The Chart, pages 25-27 

First Reader, pages 11-14 . 

First Reader, page 15 to the end 

Second and Third Readers 

Phonic Chart .... 



PAGE 

88 
95 
101 
108 
114 
121 
127 
135 
138 
143 
147 
150 
155 
159 
164 
168 
171 
177 
183 



LEARNING TO READ 

CHAPTER I 

THE METHOD EXPLAINED 

The method of teaching children to read, which is here 
presented, although extremely simple and entirely natural, 
cannot be adequately characterized in a single word, like 
"phonic," "rhyme," "dramatic," "word," "sentence," 
" thought," " action " ; it contains something of all these 
ideas, and more. Yet it is by no means an eclectic method 
in the sense that it embodies merely " the best ideas " 
selected from all methods; it consists of a harmonious 
and progressive series of efforts, of means and devices 
found most effective in solving the elementary reading 
problem. 

But a brief characterization of the method is not impor- 
tant, nor even desirable. It is important that the teacher 
who would teach in accordance with this method, and who 
would secure the best results possible in this way, should 
understand clearly and appreciate thoroughly the purpose 
and the value of the various processes, means, and materials, 
whose use is described in detail in subsequent chapters. 
To facilitate this understanding and appreciation is the 
object of this and the following chapter. 



2 LEARNING TO READ 

1. Stories 

The story with which the teacher introduces each rhyme 
that the children are to commit to memory is not a mere 
device for making what might be a hard and disagreeable 
task easy and pleasant for the child. The story does serve 
this purpose, but it does much more than that. It arouses 
1 What the ^^^^ child's interest ; it attracts and holds the 
story does child's attention ; it stimulates and directs the 
child's thought ; in short, the oral story does for the child 
what the printed story must do later. By teaching the 
child to listen well, the teacher is preparing him to read 
well. 

As the content of the stories is in harmony with the 
rhymes that they introduce and the reading matter that 
follows the rhymes, they not only facilitate the memoriz- 
ing of the rhymes — which the child does with a few 
repetitions — but they put the child in the most favorable 
attitude for really reading; that is, associating appropriate 
thought with the printed form of the rhymes and the 
sentence-stories that follow them. 

While the child is learning to read the rhyme and the 
simple stories, the teacher's story should be kept alive in 
2. The the child's consciousness by frequent repetition 
be'ke^'^^* and reference; thus is insured the presence in 
alive the child's mind of the material out of which he 

must construct the simple thoughts which the rhyme and 
sentence-stories are intended to evoke. 



THE METHOD EXPLAINED 3 

So, at the very outset, while the child is acquiring the 
first of his stock of " sight words," he is getting into the 
reader's frame of mind, is learning really to read. And he 
is doing both in a most natural and agreeable way — a 
way that represents no wearisome contrast with his most 
interesting out-of-school experiences. Learning 3. leam- 
to read in this way appeals to the child as a real ^re&i^^^ 
pleasure ; he enters upon the undertaking with pleasure 
the enthusiasm of his play and recreation. It is an en- 
thusiasm which does not easily tire. 

But in order to arouse this enthusiasm, to get and to 
keep the child in the right frame of mind, the teacher 
must tell her story well. She must enter heart- 4. -me 
ily into the spirit of the story ; she must be her- ^l^weu^^* 
self enthusiastic ; she must express her spirit and ^^^^ 
enthusiasm in her voice and manner. Only thus can she 
hope to arouse and direct the thoughts and feelings of her 
pupils. 

As a rule, the story should be told, not read from the 
Manual. Every primary teacher, at least, should be able 
to tell a story to children effectively ; this is an accom- 
plishment almost indispensable in her art. If you, as 
teacher, have never told a story, begin at once. 

The stories as given in subsequent chapters need not, 
of course, be told word for word ; it is only ^ ^ 

' . ' , '^ 5. The real 

the rhyme that is to be learned verbatim. But purpose of 
whether you tell the stories or whether you read * ^ ^^^ 
them — for they can be made effective by reading — do 



4 LEARNING TO READ 

not lose sight of their purpose ; do see to it that they 
accomplish their purpose. If your children fail to respond, 
if they fail to become interested, if they fail to enter into 
the thought and the spirit of the story, you have failed to 
secure the result for which the story was used. Study the 
cause of your failure — it will not be found in the story 
itself — and try again. 

2. Rhymes 

Rhymes, introduced by appropriate stories, furnish the 
child the most effective means of acquiring an initial stock 

1. A read- of "sight words." By memorizing rhymes and 
lUary*^ associating the spoken with the printed and 
throuffh written forms of the words, in accordance with 
rhymes later detailed directions, the child can build 
up a reading vocabulary more than twice as fast as by the 
usual " word," or " sentence," or " object " method. 

But the facility afforded for the acquiring, of a vocab- 
ulary is not the only, nor indeed the most important, 
advantage of the rhyme. Through the medium of the 
rhyme the child learns each word in use, in relation to 

2. Words other words, in a use and relation which he under- 
f^*r^»it stands and of which he is conscious when he is 

in tneir 

^se learning the written and printed forms of the 

word ; thus, from the outset he associates with the book 
word a spoken word which means something to him. When 
he reads this word in connection with other words, he at 
once associates with it not its sound alone but its meaning. 



THE METHOD EXPLAINED 5 

Building up a vocabulary of disconnected words, associ- 
ating the sound of a single word with its printed form, is 
the best possible preparation for that all too prevalent kind 
of school reading which consists only in sounding mentally 
or aloud the printed words — mechanical reading. 

There is a third advantage of the rhyme, properly used, 
which is perhaps the greatest of all. It gives the child at 
once a measure of independence in his reading ; it enables 
and encourages him to make use of what he already knows 
in learning more, a most important habit in gen- 3. The 
eral. This advantage comes about in this way. abies the 
When the child has committed a rhyme to mem- Jgi?j\ji^, 
ory thoroughly — and this commitment should self 
always be thorough — and has then learned to point word 
by word to the printed words as he repeats the rhyme, 
associating each spoken word with its printed form, he is 
prepared to read the sentence-stories which follow the 
rhyme and which are composed of words already used in 
the rhyme. If he comes upon a word which he does not 
recognize, as will frequently happen, he must not be told 
the word by the teacher ; he must go back to the rhyme, 
repeating and pointing word by word until he comes to the 
word which he did not recognize in the reading. His oral 
memory of the rhyme enables him to name the word at 
once. 

If, in reading stories that occur in the Chart or Primer 
after several rhymes have been learned, the pupil comes 
upon a word which he does not recognize and which 



6 LEARNING TO READ 

may not be in the last rhyme learned, he must hunt 
through the preceding rhymes, as indicated above, until he 

4. How comes upon the desired word. Since all words 
the rhymes from the beginning are used repeatedly as the 
reading progresses, a constant incidental review is kept up. 
And there is no need of failure on the part of the pupil 
because he has forgotten some word which he had once 
learned; he has the power to find that word, unaided. 
With this use of the rhymes pupils soon become able to 
read silently at their seats, without constantly interrupting 
the teacher for a word. 

That the rhymes may be used in this way — and on no 
account should the teacher neglect this use of them — they 
must be kept before the children for reference, as they are 
, „^ learned one after another. They may be so kept 

5. Kh3raies ^ '■ ^ 

to be kept qu the blackboards, or better, to save blackboard 
pupils for space, hung about the room on charts within easy 
reference gjg}^^ qI the children. None should be removed 
until every child knows every word in it so thoroughly that 
there will be no possible occasion for referring to it. 

When a child comes to a word which he does not recog- 
nize, the quick and easy Avay for the teacher is to tell him 
the word. That is not the right way, however, — not the 

6. How the profitable way in the long run ; and it must not 
Kir'""' ^<^ followed. The child m.nst find out the word 
himself ^^y himself from the rhyme. Of course he will 
need help at first in doing this, which, altogether, will 
make it seem a slow process of arriving at a simple 



THE METHOD EXPLAINED 7 

result. But it is a process that pays richly in the 
end. Pupils soon acquire the habit of depending on 
themselves, of finding out their own words without re- 
course to the teacher. This habit established at the out- 
set will prove of untold value later when we come to the 
use of phonics. The formation of it is dwelt upon and 
insisted upon here and continually because it is one of 
the secrets of the success of the method here described. 

3. Pictures 

Pictures adorn the pages of chart and books. But adorn- 
ment is only an incident ; it is not the real function wliich 
the pictures are intended to serve. They are an integral 
part of material and method and should be so , _ 

^ . . 1. The real 

used. They tell the child the pith of the story function of 
which the teacher tells, introducing the rhyme, ^^° "^^^ 
or they tell what the child is to read from the text. They 
attract and hold the child's attention; they arouse his inter- 
est and enthusiasm ; they stimulate and direct his thought. 
You must not, as teacher, look upon the attraction of 
the picture as a distraction. You must not grudge the 
time and attention the child is disposed to give to the 
picture, as though it were time stolen from the study of 
the text. You must not be constantly repressing the 
child's interest in the picture, pulling him forcibly away 
from it to a study of the text. You would not think of 
trying to make the child read while you were telling him 
your interesting story preparatory to his reading; you 



8 LEARNING TO READ 

would not think of giving him only a little interesting 
snatch of your story, and then forcing his attention away 
to the reading; you tell your story through to 
to be read the end and seek to enlist the child's undivided 
enjoy j^^teution and interest for the story. Pursue 
the same course with the picture. Let the child abandon 
himself to it ; study it yourself and enjoy it with him ; 
stimulate his interest and enthusiasm ; direct his observa- 
tion and thought by questions and suggestions; so help 
the child to grasp the story, not merely to see the separate 
objects and colors, which the picture contains. 

All this study of the picture is in preparation for an 
appreciative reading of the text. When the child has been 
allowed and assisted to read the story of the picture, he 
3 Reading ^^ then ready and eager to read the story of the 
the picture text. The readinsj of that will usually add to 

prepares t r i • mi • 

for reading and verify or modify the picture story. This 
will necessitate reference to the picture during 
and after the reading of the text ; such reference should 
be freely allowed and encouraged. 

4. Dramatizing 

Dramatizing is play, recreation, agreeable and healthful 
exercise of the mind and body ; and as such it is of no 
, „ little value in the economy of the day's work. 

1. Drama- ... 

tizingnot But dramatizing is much more than a pleasant 

mere play . ... . • , i • i i 

pastime ; like pictures, it plays an integral and 
important role in the successful teaching of reading. 



THE METHOD EXPLAINED 9 

Like the picture and the story, dramatizing prepares 
the child to read appreciatively and expressively. Dram- 
atizing is, indeed, more than a mere preparation for read- 
ing; dramatizing is reading in the fullest sense. Instead 
of simply thinking and picturing in their imag- 2. Drama- 
ination the thoughts and ideas of the printed conT/iete 
page, the children, in dramatizing, make those reading 
thoughts and ideas live. Instead of merely thinking 
about the actors in the story which they read, the chil- 
dren, in dramatizing, become those actors themselves. 
Instead of reading what the actors of the story do and 
say, the children, as actors, do and say those things them- 
selves. This is realistic reading. 

Successful dramatizing requires that the child forget 
himself, throw himself into his part, really become for the 
time the actor whom he represents. Under these circum- 
stances the child's acts and his speech are natural and 
expressive. 

Most children in the first and second grades take to 
dramatizing readily and naturally, when the conditions 
are right. If they are stiff and awkward in 3 Drama- 
speech and movement, if they cannot forget uraito^^*' 
themselves, it is probably due to the conven- children 
tionality and formality of the schoolroom. Let the teacher 
show the way by breaking through all unnecessary re- 
straints, forgetting herself, and taking enthusiastic part 
in the dramatization, and the children will quickly catch 
the spirit of it all. 



10 LEARNING TO READ 

Proper preparation for dramatizing, of the kind needed 
in school, does not consist in selecting certain children to 
take certain parts and having each one memorize word 
. ^ for word what he is to say ; the results of such 

4. Proper >^ ' 

prepara- preparation can hardly be anything else than 

tion for ^ ^ o-ii • • 

drama- wooden. buitable preparation consists rather 
izing in filling all the children so full of the story, by 

graphic telling, that they instinctively want to act it out. 
Parts are then quickly chosen or assigned and the little 
actors carry out the ideas and the spirit of the story. 
Their language, like their acts, should be in harmony with 
the original ideas and spirit, but need not usually be a 
verbatim repetition of the language used in the story ; 
spontaneity and originality of expression are to be en- 
couraged. 

Children's first dramatizations are of the rhymes and 
the stories told them by the teacher in introducing the 
rhymes. They will, of course, need considerable help and 
suggestion at first ; the teacher must be very careful, how- 
ever, only to help and to suggest. The children must take 
5 The their parts spontaneously, not merely do and say 
teacher what the tcaclier tolls them, or no real drama- 
heip and tizatioii is securcd. The teacher's help and sug- 
sugges gestiou can be gradually withdrawn until, after 
some months, the children will make the necessary ar- 
rangements for the exercise and carry out their parts 
almost unaided. After they have become able to read 
with some fluency, they can read their story for them- 



THE METHOD EXPLAINED 11 

selves and tlieu dramatize it with little assistance. In 
the later chapters detailed suggestions are given the 
teacher for arranging and directing the dramatization of 
certain stories. 

The chief advantages of dramatizing, then, as a part of 
the process of teaching children to read are these. In 
dramatizing, the children grasp not words alone, but 
ideas; and they feel as well as understand, e. Advan- 
Having dramatized a story, they are in condi- ^^1^^°* 
tion to read it with expression, which means tiding 
with understanding and with feeling. On the other hand, 
having i*eally read a selection suitable for dramatization, 
that is, having fully understood it and felt it, they are pre- 
pared to dramatize it. Dramatizing thus serves as a prepa- 
ration for and a culmination of the best primary reading. 

One emphatic caution will not be out of place. The 
teacher must not make the easy mistake of conducting her 
work as though the dramatic product of the children's 
efforts were the end sought. A good dramatiza- ^ ^^ 
tion is, indeed, very entertaining; to spectators, dramatic 

-r, , . . product 

But the entertamment of spectators is not the not the end 
purpose ; the purpose of dramatizing is the bene- ^°"^ 
fit of the participants, the children. That the children 
may get the most benefit from dramatizing, all should 
take part. If any are to take part more prominently or 
more frequently than others, they should be those who 
have the least talent for the exercise, for such are prob- 
ably the ones most in need of its benefits. 



12 LEARNING TO READ 

Perhaps it is superfluous to suggest that this does not 
mean that the teacher should divide up the time and the 
parts mechanically, letting each child take his turn in 
regular order. Quite the contrary. In starting dramati- 
zation in her school and in securing the participation of 
the right children under right conditions, the teacher must 
exercise the greatest tact, born of quick and sympathetic 
appreciation of the mental attitude of each child. She 
„ ^ ^ must be careful not to make the diffident, re- 

8. Tact and ... , . 

patience tiring child self-conscious and awkward by requir- 
ing him to take part ; even the formal suggestion 
that he take a j)art may unfit him to do so. The teacher 
must know how to wait patiently and watchfully for the 
time to come — as it surely will come — when such a 
child in self-forgetfulness will enter spontaneously into 
both the spirit and the action of the dramatization. The 
teacher must also know how to deal with the overforward, 
the " smart " child, the child who '' knows too much," 
who doesn't enter into the play, but plays with the whole 
situation if he deigns to take part at all. This child, like 
his retiring antipode, is under no circumstances to be 
compelled to take part and to take part in the right spirit; 
that is something which the teacher cannot compel, and 
she will do well not to attempt it. The smart boy usually 
needs only to be quietly ignored. The time will soon 
come, under this treatment, when he, too, in self-forget- 
fulness will be eager to take part in the right spirit. Any 
teacher will always find in her class a sufficient number of 



THE METHOD EXPLAINED 13 

average, normal children, who will be ready to enter into 
and to carry out the plays with her. When the excep- 
tional children finally come into the play spontaneously, 
she can easily arrange that they take part sufficiently often 
to make up for any opportunities that they may have 
lost. 

Under no circumstances should the teacher seek to 
secure a finished and smooth production by dramatizing 
the same thing over and over with the same parts taken 
by the same children each time. It is well to repeat a 
dramatization, but it should usually be with dif- 9. a fin- 
ferent participants or with changed parts. Let duc\ionTot 
there be a wholesome rivalry, as there should be desirable 
in reading, to see which can interpret and render a part 

best. 

5. Objects and Objective Teaching 

Many teachers of beginners in reading are accustomed 
to surround themselves with a great variety of objects, 
trying to present to the child the objective representation 
of every written or printed word. These objects may serve 
an excellent purpose, or they may be chiefly a hindrance ; 
at most, their profitable use is limited. We read not with 
objects but with ideas. 

If a child has never seen nor had immediate experience 
of a given object, he can have no adequate idea of that 
object. Also a non-English-speaking child may 
have a clear idea of a certain object, but as he taryobjec- 
does not know the spoken English word which 



14 LEARNING TO READ 

stands for that object, the teacher unaided has no ready 
and sure means of producing in his mind the desired idea. 
With children of these types, objects should certainly be 
used when possible j pictures are the best substitutes for 
objects. 

The subject-matter of the Aldine Readers, the Primer, 
the First and Second books, is of a character such as most 
English-speaking children have experienced on entering 
school. In fact, the ideas presented have been selected 
with great care as ideas which are among the earliest 
acquired and most frequently used by little children. Such 
ideas as may prove to be foreign to any children should be 
objectively presented. 

The argument here is not in opposition to the use of 
objects and objective teaching in the first steps in reading. 
Quite the contrary ; objective work, of the right kind, 
can profitably be carried much farther than it usually is. 
We w^ish merely to point out clearly the value and the 
limits of value of a certain customary kind of objective 
teaching. The mere presentation of objects and the placing 
of those objects in certain simple relations is a first impor- 
tant step in objective teaching. This step should be taken 
in the schoolroom, if it has not already been taken outside. 
But when this step, which is only a first step, has been 
2. Ad- taken, whether within or without the school, 

Jeai°ve °^' advance should be made. The character of 
^*"^^ this advance has already been fully described 

under Pictures, Stories, and Dramatizing. These ex- 



THE METHOD EXPLAINED 15 

ercises, in the development of which they are capable, 
represent a type of ol^jective teaching as far in advance 
of the conventional elementary use of objects as connected, 
complete discourse is in advance of the words w^hich com- 
pose it. 

The " action sentences " and the sentences for " silent 
reading " which occur frequentl}^ in the Primer are entirely 
objective in their purpose. Indeed, in the broadest sense, 
all primary reading should be objective, progressively 
objective. 

6. Sight Words 

The vocabulary of the Primer consists of sight words, 
most of which the children acquire through the medium of 
the rhyme, as already explained. A considerable portion 
of the words used in the early part of the First Reader are 
also sight words, and the majority of these are learned in 
rhymes. 

These sight words, quickly acquired, enable the child 
really to read from the first. But they are to serve, 
almost every one of them, a further j^'^'i'P'^se. Through 
them the child is to master hundreds of other ^ ^^^y^^ 
words, and eventually all words. These first "^^^^^ ^^^ 

"^ keys 

words, learned one by one, are the keys to the 

whole printed language. But that the child may use them 

as such he must know them perfectly. 

To give the child perfect acquaintance with every one 
of these early sight words, to enable him to recognize each 



16 LEARNING TO READ 

one instantly, there are many varied and interesting 
exercises suggested in subsequent chapters. Some of 
these exercises require the use of cards. Each card con- 
tains a word both in script and in print, both forms 
2 Sight o^ ^^^^ same side of the card, one form di- 
wordsmust rectlv Under the other. Experience has shown 

be per- "^ . ^ . 

fectiy that the presentation of the script and printed 

earne forms of a word together do not confuse the 

child ; they facilitate his recognition of either form with 
equal readiness. 

7. Phonics 

The term "phonics," or "phonetics," used in a discussion 
of primary reading, doubtless suggests at once, to many 
minds, an array of diacritical marks, which make a page 
of simple English look to the uninitiated like an unknown 

1. Phonics language. So persistently does this phantom 
suggests intrude itself, that it is in dang;er of obscuring; for 

diacritical ' ^ » 

marks the teacher the real facts and problems of phonics 

in their simplicity, just as the practical mastery of these 
facts and problems is rendered difficult for the child by 
the marks themselves. 

The phonetic facts are exceedingly simple. The basis of 
our spoken language is a certain number of elementary 
sounds. One or more of these sounds make up each spoken 

2. The word. Our written language consists of symbols 
of™honet^c whicli represent the elementary sounds. As the 
facts elementary sounds are combined into spoken 



THE METHOD EXPLAINED 17 

words, so the simple symbols are combined into written 
words. 

The problem of learning to read is also simple — to state 
and comprehend. It consists in associating the elemen- 
tary sounds of the spoken language, which is 3. The 
already familiar to English-speaking children, of™^e" ^ 
with the symbols which represent those sounds, problem of 
so that when a symbol, or series of symbols, is read 
seen, they at once suggest their corresponding sound or 
sounds. 

The practical difficulties, which are not inconsiderable, 
arise from the facts that some of the elementary sounds 
are represented sometimes by one symbol, sometimes by 
another, as long a in fate and eight ; that some 
of the symbols are used, on occasion, to represent ^^^^ ^^ 
several diiferent sounds, as a in ^;«Ze, ^:>af, jyciir, practical 
party etc. ; and, finally, that certain symbols are 
frequently used when they represent no sound at all, 
as igh in eight, u in four. 

It is with the hope of overcoming these difficulties for 
the child that the aid of diacritical marks is often invoked. 
Unfortunately, these marks, promising much, prove to 
be deceptive assistants ; they conceal instead of 5. Diacriti- 
helping to overcome the difficulties and they are^ecep^- 
bring other difficulties of their own. *^'® ^^^^ 

A critique, or even a mention of diacritical marks, may 
seem out of place here, inasmuch as the method of reading 
which is being explained makes no use of such marks. 



18 LEARNING TO READ 

And so it would be, were it not for the fact that many 

6. Why teachers have been trained to place more or less 
marks are reliance on marks, and the further fact that a clear 
here understanding of the real effect of their use will 
prepare the way for a better comprehension of the 
problem before us and the simple means that we have of 
solving it, which has been proved so much more effective 
than any system of marks. 

To state the matter briefly, diacritical marks are means 
of indicating to the child which of two or more possible 
sounds a given letter or letters represent; they are also used 
to indicate that no sound at all is to be associated witb a 
certain letter or letters. That is, diacritical marks are a 
means of telling the child how to pronounce a word; in this 
they take the place of the teacher who tells the child how 
to pronounce a "sight word." But diacritical marks, in- 
stead of indicating the pronunciation of the word 

7. Wherein or 

diacritical as a wholc, as the teacher does with the "sight 
word," indicate the elementary sounds which the 
letters of the word represent. Herein lies the advantage of 
the use of diacritical marks over a continuation of the pure 
" word" method; they lead at once to the analysis of the 
spoken word into its elementary sounds and of the written 
word into the symbols which represent those sounds. 

And with this analysis the value of the diacritical mark 
for the child learning to read ends ; in fact, beyond this 
point, it is relatively a hindrance to him. What the 
child needs now is to form the habit of pronouncing 



THE METHOD EXPLAINED 19 

a letter or a combination of letters in a certain way — 
the habit of pronouncing a letter or a certain ^ ^^ 
combination of letters in the way that he has habit of 

pronuncia- 

prononnced that letter or that combmation tionmust 
of letters before. Only thus can he acquire ^ °^^^ 
the ability of reading independently. 

Now, obviously, the most direct way for the child to 
form that habit is to observe how the letter or combination 
of letters is pronounced in one place and then to pronounce 
them in the same way in another place, thus con- 9. The 
stantly making use of whatever knowledge of to form the 
pronunciation he has. To illustrate : when the proiuncia- 
child who has learned the sounds of the consonants ^°^ 
also learns to pronounce the word can, he has only to apply 
this knowledge in order to pronounce scores of words and 
syllables composed of a consonant and an; when he has 
added to his vocabulary the wordjMin, scores of other words 
and syllables composed of a consonant and ain are within 
his power. 

Diacritical marks, unfortunately, instead of telling the 
child to pronounce this letter or this combination of letters 
as he pronounced it on some other occasion, thus throwing 
him back upon his own resources and compel- 
Img hnn to help himself, simply tell hnn, with- diacritical 
out any reference to what he already knows, 
how to pronounce the letter or combination of letters,~and 
they continue to tell him the same thing every time he 
comes upon this letter or combination of letters. 



20 LEARNING TO READ 

From the child's standpoint the effect of diacritical 
marks is this. His attention is directed to the mark, he 

11 Dia- i'"^ ^^^ ^^ i^^y ^^^ ^^^'^^ ^^^' guidance in pro- 
criticai nunciation, and iust to the extent that he 

marks << -i 

make the does SO rely does he fail to use the power 
fnstearof^ which liis previous experience gives him. Re- 
strong move this artificial and arbitrary aid at 
any time, confront the child with an ordinary page of 
unmarked matter, and he is helpless just to the extent 
that he has been compelled to rely on marks. 

But, one may fairly interpose, children do learn to read 
with the use of diacritical marks, and they become able in 
time to read without the guidance of marks. Very true ; 
children also learn to read by the word method ; and they 
12. chii- ^^sed to learn to read by the alphabetic method, 
the haw™ ^^ ^^^^ ^^^^^ ^^ ^^ some places ; and some chil- 
of pronun- drcu learii to read without any method. But — 

elation in . . . « . . 

spite of and this is the point of vital importance — by 
because of whatever method or lack of method children 
*^®*° acquire the power of reading, this power con- 

sists in the habit of pronouncing given letters and com- 
binations of letters in the same way under the same 
conditions. Whenever we come upon the jcombinations 
in, it, an, ine, ite, ane, we do not hesitate an instant about 
the proper pronunciation, nor do we feel the need of the 
guidance of diacritical marks; we simply pronounce these 
combinations of letters as we have been accustomed to 
pronounce them. 



THE METHOD EXPLAINED 21 

Now, how is this simple but necessary habit formed ? 
Usually indirectly, incidentally, unconsciously, as a result 
of long practice in reading. Such is certainly the process 
of its formation when the child is taught to rely on the 
help of diacritical marks ; and even more slowly and indi- 
rectly is this habit formed when a pure word method is 
used. 

A clear comprehension of the facts and conditions, as 
we now have them before us, warrants the theory that a 
method which attacks the problem consciously and directly, 
a method which teaches the child to rely at every step 
upon himself and his experience and not upon any arti- 
ficial aid, a method, in short, which trains the 13. The 
child to do from the first intellio-ently what he ^f^^^^^p^ 

<^ "^ of a method 

otherwise learns to do blindly after a long; time, that fosters 
will be a great gam. It will give the child a formation 
much quicker and surer mastery over the writ- nuncia^ion 
ten language; but more than that, and perhaps ^^^^^ 
of even more importance in the long run, it will give him 
incidentally a sj'stematic course of training in self-reliance, 
in self-help, in the practical application on occasion of any 
usable knowledge that he may possess. 

But however well founded a theory may seem to be, its 
soundness is fully demonstrated only by practice and the 
results of practice. The theory here formulated has stood 
the test of years of practice in scores of schoolrooms; in 
fact, it is but truth to say that the theory grew gradually 
out of practice, quite as truly as was the practice guided 
by the theory. 



22 LEARNING TO READ 

The essential features of this method, satisfying sound 
theory and proved by long experience, will be briefly de- 
scribed in the following three sections ; the details of its 
application are fully explained in subsequent chapters. 

8. Consonants 

As already observed in the discussion of Phonics, the 
whole real difficulty in this subject arises from the fact 
that each of the elementary sounds is not uniformly repre- 
sented by one and the same symbol, that each symbol 
1. The con- does not uniformly represent one and the same 
Bouu^/ °^ sound. Yet there are sound values attaching to 
values letters and groups of letters with such constancy 
that, as we have already pointed oat, indispensable habits 
of pronunciation are formed, even under methods of in- 
struction which tend to hinder rather than to facilitate 
the formation of such habits. 

In promoting the formation of these habits, children 

are early taught to associate with the following consonants 

stant ^^^ sounds wliich they represent : h, c (hard), d, 

consonant f g (hard), li,j, k, /, m, 11, v, ou, v, s (sharp), t, 

sounds . 7.77x77/ • 7'\ 1 

V, IV, y, c/i (as m c/iila), s/i, tli (as m tins), and 
icli. In the case of those consonants which represent 
more than one sound, that sound is chosen for this early 
teaching which occurs most frequently in the child's 
reading. 

Nothing should be said to the children now about any 
other sounds sometimes attachino: to some of these letters. 



THE METHOD EXPLAINED 



23 



Their other sounds the children easily master, as experi- 
ence amply proves, and in the same manner that they 
master the several sounds of the vowels, which will be 
explained in the proper place. The problem now is to 
make the child associate so firmly in his mind the sounds 
indicated above with their respective symbols 3. ihemas- 
that whenever a symbol is seen he thinks its sonant '^"^ 
sound instantly. To do this the letters with sounds 
their sounds are analyzed from suitable sight words which 
the child has already learned. For instance, r with its 
sound is separated from rmi, c with its sound from come. 
Consonant cards are used, one for each sound, ^ ^j^^ ^^^ 
to drill the pupils in associatinu; instantly the ofconso- 

. ^ ^ "^ , PIT ^^^^ cards 

sound with its symbol. On one side of the card 

is the word from which the sound and its symbol were 

analyzed, with the symbol repeated, thus : — 



run 
r 



On the other side of the card is the symbol atone, but 
in two forms, the capital and the small letter, the former 
under the latter, thus : — 



R 

r 



After the analysis, this latter side of the card is used for 
the drill. But if a pupil fails to give the right sound, or 



24 LEARNING TO READ 

if he is unable to give any sound, at sight of the letter, 
the card is reversed for him, and he quickly gets the right 
sound from the word. 

It is of the utmost importance that the pupil get just 
the right sound of every consonant at the outset ; the 
drill only intensifies and makes more difficult to correct 
later any inaccuracy of enunciation. To make sure of 
each pupil's pronunciation the teacher should carefully 

5. Correct test each one alone, not only listening to the 
11011^1^^-"^ sound as he gives it, but observing the position 
quired a,nd movcmcuts of his lips, teeth, and tongue; 
It is often necessary to show the child how to place and 
to move these vocal organs in the production of a given 
sound. This the teacher can do by herself producing the 
sound very distinctly, at the same time pointing out to 
the pupil the j)osition of the vocal organs in making the 
sound. The pupil then imitates by using his vocal organs 
in the same way. 

The drill should be rapid and snappy. As in all drill 
work tliat has an automatic result for its object, which 
result depends upon attention and repetition, much more 
is accomplished with a class in a given time by having 
much concert work. In this case to secure effective con- 

6. How to cert work, the teacher should hold her pack of 
tfve'concert cards directly in front of her, nearly on a level 
driu with her face, the sides of the cards containing 
only the consonants toward the children. She then takes 
cards, rapidly, one at a time from the back of the pack 



THE METHOD EXPLAINED 26 

and places them in front, the children giving the sound 
of each. In this process the cards are not turned over ; 
the teacher does not need to see the side of the card 
exposed to the children, as she can see from the other 
side, which is facing her while the card is on the back of 
the pack, what symbol the card contains. 

In this concert drill every child's undivided attention 
should be focused on the cards, and all children should 
give the sound together. To secure this result a simple 
device should be followed which prevents one or ^ Aneffec- 
two of the quicker pupils becoming leaders and *^"^® device 
the others dragging along as followers. This device con- 
sists in holding each card an instant at the right of the 
pack, during which pause every pupil prepares to answer ; 
when the card is placed quickly on the front of the pack 
all give the sound together. The teacher nmst rigidly 
insist that no one give the sound until she gives the sig- 
nal for it, which is the movement of the card to 
the left placing it in front of the pack. Of course 
there should be enough individual drill to insure that 
every child is getting the correct sounds and the desired 
facility. 

Drills on the consonants should be daily until they are 
thoroughly learned ; thoroughness means ability 
to produce the correct sound instantly when- thorough- 

. -^ uess means 

ever and wherever the symbol is seen. De- 
tails of the method and the order of taking up the 
consonants will be given in subsequent chapters. 



26 LEARNING TO READ 

9. Vowels and Type "Words 

As the sound which each vowel represents on any occa- 
sion is determined by the relation in which the vowel stands 
to other letters, vowels are treated only in the combinations 
in wdiich they actually occur. That is, the chil- 
treatment dren are taught to associate no one sound with 
each vowel, as they do with each consonant, but 
they are taught to associate the appropriate sounds with 
fixed and frequently occurring groups of letters containing 
one or more vowels. 

Work with the vowel combinations is begun as soon as 
the consonants have been mastered, as described in the 
last section. The child is taught to analyze the sight 
words which he has learned and which he is learning daily 
and by their aid to master hundreds and thousands of new 
words. For example, he has learned the word ivill ; when 
he comes to the word lull in his reading, he already has the 
knowledge, if he can apply it, that will enable him to 
master hill. The teacher helps him to make this appli- 
cation of his knowledge by writing the familiar word for 
him on the board, slightly separating the w from the rest 
of the word, and the new word directly under it, thus: — 

w ill 
hill 

He already knows the consonants, and he at once perceives 
that the ill of the second word is exactly like the ill of the 
first. He pronounces the first ; he cannot fail to pronounce 



THE METHOD EXPLAINED 27 

the second. He has thus taken the first conscious step 
in the formation of the habit of pronouncing 2. The first 
the same combination of letters in the same forming 
way. Further steps are taken when, with ill as cfatiC"""' 
a basis and with the use of his knowledge of the ^^^^^ 
consonant sounds, he masters the words, bill, chill, drill, 
Jill, frill, gill, grill, kill, mill, pill, quill, rill, etc. 

Every other sight word that the child has learned or 
may learn is made to do service in a similar way. If the 
child knows the word ona//, he has the power to master the 
whole -ay series : hay, hray, day, dray, fay, gay, gray, hay, 
jay, lay, pay, play, etc. All the help he needs, 3. The only 
and all that he should receive, is help to enable ^^ip needed 
him to apply his knowledge, to compare the new with the 
old. This help is best given by placing the words together, 
the new under the old, 

may 

pay 

1 ay, etc. 
A word which is made to serve as a basis of acquiring 
other words of the same " series " or " family " is called, 
for convenience, a " type word." As soon as words begin 
to be studied in this way drill is begun with the 4. "Type 
Phonic Chart as directed in detail in following and their 
chapters. Every new word which arises the child "^® 
should master through a " type word " if he has one in his 
vocabulary. If he has no type word, then the new word, 
learned as a sight word, will thereafter serve as a type 
word. 



28 LEARNING TO READ 

The constant use of all the knowledge that the child has 

of consonant sounds — and that should be perfect — -and 

of vowel combmations, as he has learned them in sight 

words, cannot be too rigidly insisted upon. In 

pupil every case in which the child knows the ele- 

II13>k6S coil" 

stant use incnts — the combinations of letters and their 
fngknowi^ soimds — of which a new word is made up, he 
edge must use his knowledge in mastering the new 

word. If he is not able to do this unaided, as he will not 
be at first, the aid should take the form of assistance, as 
already illustrated, in applying his knowledge ; and no 
other aid whatever should be given. 

This method at first seems slow. It is relatively slow ; 

it would be easier and quicker for the time being to tell the 

child the new word outright, or to mark it for him diacrit- 

ically. But let us not overlook the effect of the work 

which we are making tlie pupil do. We are 

6. The oil 

effect of helping him to form and to form very rapidly, as 

this work • i t i v -i. i • i 

experience has proved, a necessary habit which 
he otherwise acquires but slowly, that of observing carefully 
and pronouncing the elements of new words as he pro- 
nounced the same elements in old words. We are not telling 
the pupil how to pronounce the word before him merely, we 
are preparing him to pronounce dozens and scores of words 
and syllables which contain the same elements as the word 
in question. 

This method rigidly followed, slow at first, soon develops 
into the quickest and surest method. The habit which the 



THE METHOD EXPLAINED 29 

pupil rapidly forms of relying on himself, on his own knowl- 
edge, soon begins to relieve the teacher. The self-confi- 
dence which the feeling of power inspires in the 7. Thepu- 
pupil is of inestimable value; he knows that he Jeiy^o^nhim^ 
canread, and read without help. He doesn't want ^®^^ 
help; he wants to dig out every new word for himself. 
The independent reading at their seats and in their 
homes, which children delight to do after a few months 
of this training in self-help, first with the rhyme and 
later with the consonants and type words, can scarcely be 
credited by one who has not seen it. 

But there are a few more or less plausible objections or 
queries that may be raised at this point. The habit of 
always pronouncing; a afiven vowel combination 
in the same way is not a safe guide; for the pro- biutyof 
nunciation of vowels and vowel combinations ™^^ ^ 
varies. For instance, note the sound value of -010 in 
coiv and shoiv and again in shoiver; of -oivl in hoivl and 
growl; of -oil in roll and doll; of -ive in hive and give; 
of -ear in near and hear; of -eak in iveak and break; of 
-ead in head and head. The reply to this objection is that 
the child has within himself the power to determine the 
correct sound in such doubtful cases. 

Suppose the child who has learned the sight words head 
and head has to read this sentence : I loill read you a story 
ahout hread. It is quite possible that he would mispro- 
nounce both read and hread. But he can correct himself. 
What he reads must "make sense"; he must understand 



30 LEARNING TO READ 

it. If he mispronounces either of these words, the sen- 
9. How the tence will be without meaning for him. He 
rectewr tries again, applying another pronunciation of 
mistakes Qad which he knows; then he reads the sentence, 
and he knows that he reads it for he understands it. 
Children are taught from the very first rhyme that they 
must understand what they read. 

This kind of test which the child thus applies to his 
reading is not mere guessing on his part; it is an act of 

10 This is sound intelligence. The child is thinking; he is 
thinking, not jjriuging his knowledge and power to bear on the 
guessing problem before him. He is being trained in some- 
thing more th.in the mere pronunciation of a word. 

Had the chikl in this instance been guided by diacritical 
marks, he might indeed have pronounced the words of the 
sentence correctly the first time; he might also not have 
read the sentence, not have understood it ; and there would 
have been nothing to indicate to the teacher that he was 
reading only words. But in the method we are describing, 
this measure of immediate uncertainty about the correct 

11 The real pi'om^nciation of some words, so far from being 
value of mis- a hindrance to the child's independent reading, 

is made a valuable test and stimulus of intelligent 
reading. As every keenly observant teacher knows, there is 
a constant tendency on the part of children to read words to 
the neglect of ideas. Any method which focuses attention 
on the words fosters this tendency; any method which 
compels the pupil to direct his attention to ideas opposes it. 



THE METHOD EXPLAINED 31 

But, to pursue still farther possible objections to this 
method of determining the correct pronunciation of words, 
suppose the child about to read the sentence proposed above 
knows the sound of -ead only as it occurs in head; 

•^ 12. A second 

he will probably pronounce bread correctly, but objection and 

• n . 7/^1.1 X the answer 

will mispronounce read, ban he then correct 
himself? Often; the consonants and the context are fre- 
quently enough to enable the child who is accustomed to try 
to understand what he reads, especially if he has had the 
experience of a few months, to get out a word like this cor- 
rectly. If he cannot do this, he is given the pronunciation of 
read, and it becomes a type word. Thenceforth, aided by 
his understanding, the child is prepared to determine the 
correct pronunciation of lead, leader, dead, dread, mead, 
meado'w, head, j^lead, tread, steady, etc. 

But what happens if the child does not know the spoken 
form of a word which he is trying to read ? What means 
has he then of determining whether a pronunciation which 
he may give is correct or not ? No means, and he ought to 
have none. If he doesn't know what he is read- ,„ , ,^. ^ 

13. A third 

ing about, if he has not the elementary ideas for objection 
which the words before him stand, that fact ought 
to be revealed, and the more strikingly it is revealed the 
better. What the child needs under these circumstances, 
first of all, is not a word, but an idea. Any assistance or 
any method that enables him to get the word without the 
idea which the word represents is pernicious. 

By the method which we are describing the child is 



32 LEARNING TO READ 

learning to do from the first what he must eventually do 

if he becomes an intelligent reader; he is learning to guide 

himself by the context, by the meaning. The child is learn- 

ins; to do iust what you do when you meet words 

14. How do ° ■' •^ . "^ 

you read that are ucw to you. Possibly sidpliocyanogen 
and hydrosulphocyanic are such words in the sen- 
tence; Sulphocyanogen with hydrogen forms hydrosidpho- 
cyanic acid. 

Can you read this sentence ? Are you sure about the 
pronunciation of sidphocyanogcn and hydrosidphocyanic f 
To one long familiar with the printed language these words 
present no great difficulties of pronunciation, yet you may 
well be in doubt on some points, like the sound of g, also 
of c,, unless you know the rule about the sound of c before y. 

Now, if you are a student of chemistry and these words 
are in your spoken vocabulary, you determine their correct 
pronunciation readily and with confidence ; you read the 
sentence. On the other hand, if these ternis are not in 
your spoken vocabulary, if you have no idea about the 
things for which the words stand, you do not read the 
sentence and you remain in doubt about the pronunciation. 

To resolve your difficulty you resort to the dictionary. 
If you want only to pronounce words in reading, you 
quickly get from the dictionary the help you 
the diction- need. But it is interesting to note that the 
dictionary, though using constantly diacritical 
marks, does not rely on them alone to indicate to you 
correct pronunciation ; at the bottom of every page are 



THE METHOD EXPLAINED 33 

little familiar words in which the diacritically marked 
letters are pronounced in the same way as in the words 
above whose pronunciation you wish to know. 

If you are not satisfied with words alone, but insist on 
reading ideas, you study the definitions of the words. 
This may suffice ; but in order to enable yourself really to 
read the sentence proposed, you will probably need to 
work in a chemical laboratory. 

A further objection to this treatment of phonics, as we 
are describing it, may be conceived. It may appear that, 
notwithstanding the fact that the child masters hundreds 
and thousands of common regularly spelled words, through 
their similarity to a few score type words, still not suffi- 
cient use is made of the phonetic idea. As the key to each 
series a type word has to be learned as a sight 

/^ ° 16. How far 

word ; there are also some hundreds of other phonics are 
words which are so irregular that they have to 
be learned each one by itself as a sight word. Why should 
not most or all of these sight words be mastered in some 
way by phonics ? The answer is that these words are 
mastered phonetically to a large and, as the child ad- 
vances, to an increasing extent. As the child gets a little 
insight into the phonetic idea he ceases to learn words 
purely as sight words in the sense that the words which he 
learned through his first rhymes were sight words ; he al- 
ways applies to the mastery of a new word such knowledge 
as he has, be that word regidar or irregidar, a member of 
a series to which he has a key word, or the first word of 



34 LEARNING TO READ 

that particular form which he has ever seen. Now the 
child is always able to apply his knowledge of the conso- 
nants and their sounds ; with increasing experience with 
vowel sounds and practice in determining pronunciation by 
the context, he grows rapidly in ability to master entirely 
new words, words not similar in form to any which he has 
previously learned. 

But a briefer and more pointed answer to the sugges- 
17. Teach- tion of incompletcness in this scheme of phonics 
m)ta^sys1;6m ^^ ^^^^ ^^ ^^^ ^^^ teaching a system of phonics ; 
of phonics -yve are teaching children to read. 

10. New Words 

The general process by which the pupil acquires a read- 
ing vocabulary, first by learning sight words, largely 
through the medium of rhymes, and later by applying 
principles of phonics, has already been described. Let us 
now, from a little different standpoint, look at 

1. The treat- . . . . -"^ ' 

mentofnew the principles which are to guide the teacher in 
^°^ ^ the treatment of new words Avhich arise after 

the pupil has a vocabulary of a hundred or more sight 
words, after he has mastered the consonants and their 
sounds, and after he has begun work on the Phonic Chart. 
The most fundamental principles of all are never to do 
for the child what he can do for himself; and, correla- 
tively, always to help the child to help himself. The ap- 
plication of these principles is this : A child fails to 
I'ecognize a word. Is it a word which he has already had 



THE METHOD EXPLAINED 35 

as a sight word ? If so, let him go back to the rhyme 

or story in which he learned it. Is it a "series" 2 ih m t 

word which he has already had, like save ? Let funda- 
mental 
him get the clew through some other word 01 principles 

the series, like gave, which he knows. Is it a ° ^ 
word which he has never had, but which is made up 
of elements which he know^s, say meat ? Help him to 
recognize and put together the known elements, per- 
haps through comparison with the familiar word eat. 
Is it an easy and regular word, but the first one of its 
series which the pupil has seen, such as grow ? Let 
the pupil pronounce the initial consonants gr, which he 
knows, and give him what help he needs with the 
rest ; merely covering the iv, better than drawing a 
line through it, will usually suffice, especially when the 
child is guiding himself by the sense. Is it both a 
new and irregular, difficult word, like through f In such 
a case it is often better for the teacher to sound at once 
the part of the word which the child does not know, -ough, 
drawing a line under it ; the child must then prefix the 
sound of the letters which he does know, thi^-, thus giving 
the whole word. The word as a whole should then be 
pronounced very distinctly and slowly, first by the teacher, 
if the pupil has not already got just the right sound. 

A new word which presents any considerable difficulty 
should be pronounced by the child several times before 
leaving it. This should be done thoughtfully, attentively, 
not mechanically. To secure this thoughtful pronuncia- 



36 LEARNING TO READ 

tion, the word should be used in several short sentences, 
3. Repeated as, " I can sce through the window ; " "I have 
pronunS ^^^^ through the lesson;" "1 have walked 
tion through the hall." Requiring pu^^ils always to 

repeat new words several times in succession, as through, 
through, through, through, through, is an exercise, at best, 
of doubtful value ; and it usually degenerates into a quite 
thoughtless repetition. 

To assist her pupils intelligently in this way, it is obvi- 
ous that the teacher must always have clearly in mind 
just what she can fairly expect her pupils to know ; 
4 How th '"^^^ must also be quick and skillful in bringing 
teacher as- before them something that they already know 
through which they may master the unknown. 
It is always possible for the teacher to determine at any 
point, by reference to the vocalnilaries at the back of the 
books, just what words her pupils have used in reading in 
the Primer, the First and the Second Reader. Also the 
type words available as an aid to the pupils in pronounc- 
ing the new words in any lesson of the First or Second 
Reader are given in parentheses over the words j)receding 
each lesson. 

This constant need of using knowledge over and over in 
acquiring more, emphasizes the necessity of thoroughness, 
that what the child has once learned may be available and 
usable whenever he requires it. 

There is one caution which is not out of place here. 
The effort to make the pupil help himself in making out 



THE METHOD EXPLAINED 37 

new words should be intelligent. If he has not the defi- 
nite knowledge which he can apply, which you can' help 
him to apply to the mastery of the new word, do not keep 
hiin merely guessing at the word vaguely and at random. 
Above all things do not pass such a word from 5 ^ 
one pupil to another and another requiring each caution 
one to " try it." Such a practice, all too common, is most 
pernicious. No pupil has gained anything from his effort, 
for he has not been working intelligently; much time has 
been consumed; and worse than the loss of time, every 
pupil has listened to many mispronunciations. The 
course for the teacher to pursue in such a case as this is 
to pronounce the word, after some pupil has contributed 
whatever little part he knows — to pronounce it and to 
have it repeated by the pupils several times. 

11. Drill 

In our desire to make intelligent and independent 
readers of our pupils as quickly as possible, we must not 
overlook the fact that there is a considerable 1 Mechan- 
amount of mechanism involved in reading, and {fJ^J^on* 
that, in order to have good reading, this mech- scious 
anism must be nearly or quite unconscious. 

Now, an acquired mechanism of the kind required in 
reading is made unconscious, not by trying to ignore its 
existence, but by mastering it so thoroughly 2. How 
that it demands no direct attention. Such ^madTun- 
perfect mastery is most quickly and economi- conscious 
cally achieved by devoting at times the undivided at- 



38 LEARNING TO READ 

tention and effort to the process to be acquired. This 
is drill. 

The principal things that need to be drilled as a basis 
for fluent and intelligent reading are sight words, so that 
3. Theprin- the pupil will recoguize them instantly on sight; 
to^be*^^"^^ the consonants, so that the pupil can sound them 
drilled accurately and unhesitatingly on all occasions ; 
the series or families of words, so that the pupil will 
become accustomed to pronounce the same vowel com- 
binations in the same way ; the analysis and attentive pro- 
nunciation of words with distinct articulation ; the 
pronunciation of two or more consonants in combination ; 
and the mastery of new words by the application of knowl- 
edge and principles already learned. Drill in these things, 
the details of which are explained in the proper places, 
should be given in exercises distinct from the reading 
lesson proper. 

12. Reading 

That the oral reading exercise may be a success, the 
pupils should be prepared for it, as indicated in the last 
section. This does not mean that reading must wait until 
all the mechanism of reading has been made automatic by 
drill ; real reading should begin the first day of school and 
continue daily without interruption. It means 

1. Prepara- 7 . . pit i • n 

tion for that the peculiar difficulties of each lesson, chiefly 
rea mg ^^^^ words and unknown ideas, should be antici- 
pated and overcome in an exercise preceding the reading 



THE METHOD EXPLAINED 39 

proper. Sometimes this preparatory exercise may be a 
drill exercise, pure and simple; but more often, especially 
as the reading becomes more advanced after leaving the 
Prhner, it should take the form of a preliminary study of 
the lesson to be read. 

With the mechanical difficulties largely overcome in 
advance, the pupil's mind is free to read ideas, and not 
mere words. What does it mean to read ideas ? 2- what 
It means actively to think the thoughts and ing means 
really to feel the emotions represented by the words, 
the sentences, the paragraphs, and the whole story read. 

This practical definition of reading will bear analysis. 
It implies that there are thoughts and emotions repre- 
sented not merely by words, but also by sentences, and 
still further by paragraphs, and finally by the whole story. 
That this implication is absolutely true to fact, a little 
study and reflection must convince any one. 

The frequent failure on the part of the teacher to grasp 
fully and to carry out completely this conception of read- 
ing, results in the acceptance of many an exercise as real 
reading — and that, too, in grades far beyond the primary 
— which are but slightly better than the mere calling 
of words. 

Beyond the calling of words, which is not reading at 
all, it will serve our purpose here to distin- ^ ^^^^ ^^ 
guish four degrees, or stages in reading, the first greesof 
three of which are abundantly exemplified in 
practice, but only the fourth is true, adequate reading. 



40 LEARNING TO READ 

In the first and lowest of these stages the reader under- 
stands, in a measure at least, every word, forms in his 

4. Beading mind the idea which corresponds to the reality 
nected ^^^ which each word stands, and yet he fails to 
ideas j-^ad the sentence which the words compose. He 
does not conceive the larger thought which should grow 
out of the individual ideas which the separate words 
represent. 

When a child pronounces each word by itself as though 
it had no connection with any other word, often with a 
long pause between successive words, though sometimes, 
when more fluent, calling the words rapidly enough, but 
with a certain jerky, disconnected inflection, he is usually, 
at best, reading only unconnected ideas. As he fails in his 

5. Why voice to synthesize the several words into one 
ideas are sentence, SO he fails in his mind to synthesize 

not con- ' ^ ^ 

nected the several ideas into one complete thought. 

And it is usually true that his failure to think the ideas 
together is due to his failure to read the words together 
into a connected whole. 

This kind of reading is not natural, is not characteris- 
tic either of the child mind or of child speech; it is an 

artificial product, the result of poor teaching, 
gin of the The child has been taught at first and later 

allowed to focus his attention on individual 
words and individual ideas. He has learned words uncon- 
nectedly; he reads sentences as though they were nothing 
more than horizontal rows of words. 



THE METHOD EXPLAINED 41 

This habit is strengthened, and sometimes formed, by 
requiring or allowing children to read aloud matter rather 
difficult for them without first having read it to them- 
selves. It requires so much attention and effort to master 
each word as they come to it, that none is left for the 
mastery of tlie thought as a whole. 

To prevent the formation of this habit is easy ; to over- 
come it, when once it is well established, is difficult. The 
precautions or measures to be adopted for either purpose 
are the same. First of all, the teacher must not forget 
for one moment that back of the sentence is 7. How to 
a thought, just as back of each word is an idea. J^Jeak tL 
While she makes sure that the child under- i^^bit 
stands the ideas, she must also make sure that he forms 
and grasps the thought. 

Used as directed, the rhymes give the pupil the right 
start. Through them he gets the thought made up of 
ideas; by means of them, he expresses that g jj- . 
thought through sentences composed of words, attention to 
To insure the continuance of these processes of 
thought-getting and thought-expressing, the pupil should be 
aided by questions which direct his attention to the thought, 
and by readings which bring out the thought. Get the 
child to think the thought and he will express it in his 
reading; get him to read the words as they should be 
read, and he will grasp the thought. The phrase drills 
suggested and described elsewhere help to overcome any 
tendency to word by word reading which the beginners 
may be developing. 



42 LEARNING TO READ 

In the second reading stage the pupil grasps the tlionght 
of sentences, one at a time, but stops short of thinking sen- 
tence thoughts together into a larger whole. This kind of 
reading is exceedingly prevalent, especially in the first 
grade. And, unlike reading of the first stage, it will often 

9 Reading ^^^^ ^^ be Very good reading. The individual 
unconnected sentences may be given with excellent expression, 

°"^ ^ and the child may give evidence in other ways 
that he grasps the thought of each sentence. A careful 
observer, however, readily detects the true character of this 
reading when the child tries to read sentences whose mean- 
ing and expression are especially dependent on the 
thoughts of preceding sentences. Questions, also, that call 
for an understanding not of a single sentence, but of a 
paragraph or group of sentences, are sure to reveal the 
limitations of the child's mental processes. 

This kind of reading, like that of the first stage, is not 
a natural development of child-thought and child-expres- 

10 How the ^^^^5 ^^ '^^ ^^^^ product of instruction. Too often 
habit is the reading matter of the first grade encourages 

this kind of reading; indeed it scarcely makes 
possible any better reading. It presents no thoughts higher 
than unconnected sentence-thoughts. There is no continu- 
ity, no progress of thought from sentence to sentence. The 
sentences are unconnected, and might be read in any order 
as well as in the order given. 

The material presented in the Aldine Readers, even in 
the Primer and the First Reader, will be found not of this 



THE METHOD EXPLAINED 43 

kind. Back of even the most simple group of sentences is 
a larger thought or picture in the development of which 
each sentence plays its part. Whether the pupils get these 
larger thoughts will depend entirely upon the way the 
teacher conducts the work. 

First of all, the teacher must get and keep those larger 
thoughts in her own mind, as well as the subordinate 
thoughts out of which the larger ones grow, jj- nowto 
Then she must keep constantly before her as the avoid the 
object of the child's reading the thinking of 
those larger thoughts, considering the thoughts of the 
single sentences but means to the larger end. This con- 
ception and aim on the part of the teacher will serve as 
the best test of her methods, determining whether they 
lead naturally and inevitably to the end sought, or not. 

In the light of this whole discussion it is easy to see that 
the practice of allowing each pupil to read but one sentence 
at a time, which is, unfortunately, almost universal among 
first-grade teachers, and only slightly less preva- 12. Pupiis 
lent among second-grade teachers, fosters the for- s^ntenSs*^ 
mation of just the habit which we would avoid, connectedly 
If pupils are to think beyond single sentence-thoughts, if 
they are to think from thought to thought until they have 
developed a larger thought, they must read from sentence 
to sentence. They must be questioned and stimulated to 
talk about the larger thoughts, and not exclusively about 
the single-sentence thoughts. 

But are children of the first grade capable of this ? The 



44 LEARNING TO READ 

reason most frequently given hy teachers for having their 
pupils read but one sentence at a time is that such little 
children are not able to read more. Before accepting tliis 
reason as a fact let us ask whether children on enterino; 
13 Pu 1 school are capable of understanding the story 
are capable wliich the teacher tells introducing the first 
and reading rhyme, or whether they can grasp only uncon- 
connectediy ^^ggted Sentences of it; whether they are cajmble 
of reading the story wliich the pictures tell, or whether they 
can see only the different objects of the picture. 

The only real difference in these cases is what may be 
called a mechanical one. It requires time and experience 
for the children to become so familiar with the printed page 
that tliey can gather the thought as easily and as rapidly 
14. A me- through that medium as they do through pictures 
d^ffiTuUy to '^"^ ^^^^ spoken word. This mechanical difficulty 
be overcome niust uot be ignored. AYliere and while it exists it 
justifies and necessitates the reading of a single sentence by 
a pupil. But when, by study and by repeated reading, 
this mechanical difficulty is overcome for a paragraph or a 
connected group of sentences, that j)aragraph or group of 
sentences should be read entire by a single pupil. Only 
such reading will insure the reading of connected thoughts, 
the grasping of the larger thoughts, which we desire. 

Almost from the beginning, reviews should be read in 
connected sentences, a single pupil reading several, giving 
expression to show that he understands each sentence as 
but a part of the whole. During the first months it will 



THE METHOD EXPLAINED 45 

not be tlie first nor the second review that can be read suc- 
cessfully m this way; but the time will come, 15. How- 
must come in the course of re-reading these early gJoui^^^je 
pages, when a pupil will be able to read several ^^^^ 
sentences connectedly in succession. Long before the mid- 
dle of the first year, pupils should be regularly reading their 
first reviews in this connected way, and they should be 
beginning this j^ractice with the advance reading. Before 
the end of the first year it should become customary for 
each pupil, even in the advance reading, to read several 
sentences, as many as required, in succession. To make 
this practice successful the reading matter must not be too 
difficult and the preparation for the reading must be 
adequate. 

The third stage in reading is analogous to the second, 
and is developed in an analogous way. It consists in 
grasping more or less adequately the connected is. Read- 
thought represented by single paragraphs, or even n^cted*^"^' 
by small. groups of paragraphs, but it fails to paragraphs 
grasp the complete thought of an entire story, poem, or 
argument. This kind of reading will be found exemplified 
in all grades from the second to the high school. It is a 
product of conventional methods of instruction which direct 
the pupil's attention almost exclusively to parts, but sel- 
dom to the largest wholes. Pupils are required habitually 
to read a single paragraph, or a limited amount ; j^ origin 
they are questioned on a single paragraph ; they °^ *^® ^^^^* 
" reproduce " a single paragraph. Whenever the ques- 



46 LEARNING TO READ 

tioning or the reproduction is more extended, it involves 
merely a series of paragraphs, taken in succession ; the 
effect is the same as though only one paragraph were con- 
sidered. 

There are many other even more pernicious practices in 
school reading which obscure its real purpose. They 

18. Even would uot be mentioned here were they not so 
^°^^. . prevalent even in " our best schools." A lesson 

pernicious i 

practices '' begins where it was left oif ," which means 
not that the thought is taken up from the point to which 
it had been developed, but simply that the reading is begun 
on the page, at the paragraph and line at which it stopped 
at the last lesson. Pupils read brief passages one after 
another until the " time is up," when " books closed " and 
"books away" end the exercise. If the end of the selec- 
tion is reached before the " time is up," the " next " reader 
begins the next selection without a pause, or he may be 
told to " turn back to the beginning " ; it really makes 
little difference which he does under these conditions. 
Another simple and attractive method of determining the 
length of the exercise is to " read around the class once." 

A pupil accustomed to this kind of instruction is often 
able to reproduce a long story step by step as it was read, 
giving equal emphasis to all details, but is quite helpless 

19. The before the questions. What is it really all about ? 

myiases the ^^^^^ '^^ ^^^^ g^^^' ^^^^^ ^^ ^^^^ P^^"^ ^^ ^^ ^^^ ' ^^^3"' 

point indeed, should he know what it is all about ? 

Why should he see any point to it? The points which 



THE METHOD EXPLAINED 47 

have been kept most consistently and conspicuously before 
him are to " know the place " when he is called ; to read 
his little asssignment without '•' miscalling any words"; 
perhaps to " tell what he has just read." If his thought 
ever rises to the stage of grasping the whole of a story in 
its significance, it is no credit to his instruction. The best 
influence of that is to keep him entirely occupied with 
details, which are treated as though they were complete in 
themselves. 

From the first reading lesson, day after day and year after 
year, attention has been devoted almost exclusively to 
details ; first it was the word, then it was the 20. Details 
sentence, finally it was the paragraph. These enTs^fnsfead 
details have been treated as ends instead of of means 
means, as wholes instead of parts. The resultant effect 
on the pupil is just what we find, just what we might have 
predicted in the beginning. 

All these details are important, all these details must be 
studied ; but they are important and they are to 
be studied not in themselves alone, but as parts place of 
of larger wholes to which tliey belong. These 
larger wholes themselves must be grasped and mastered, 
not as a result of long years of training in reading, but 
from the very beginning — the first day and every day. 

The practical meaning of this, in a word, is that from 
the very outset we must teach our pupils 22. what 
to grasp the whole, as well as the parts, of ^ong^f^o^^ 
everything they read. Indeed, they have not the outset 
really read a selection until they have grasped it as a whole. 



48 LEARNING TO HEAD 

This is not impossible, nor even especically difficult, if only 
the object is kept consistently before us, and suitable means 
are used to attain it. 

In the low primary grades, where its attainment seems 
most difficult, we have many indirect aids. The teacher's 

23. Aids in story, the rhyme, the picture, and the drama- 
mary^^" tization, are all excellent means of stimulating 
grades r^j^j disciplining connected and continuous 
thought. 

Throughout the grades '• reproduction " exercises may 
be made most effective means of securing the end 

24. The sought. As too oftcu used, however, these 
profitable excrciscs oulv scrve the more surely to brins; 

use of "re- ^ ^ ^ 

production" about the rcsults we deplore ; they are made to 
exercises consist in doing over again just what the pupil 
did in reading, and doing it in the same order and in the 
same way. The pupil merely repeats in order the detailed 
thoughts, often using almost or cpiite the words in which 
they were originally expressed. 

Pupils must be trained to reproduce, stretching the con- 
ventional meaning of this term, whatever may be called 
for, a single thought, a larger thought, or the whole ; and 
they must be trained to reproduce these thoughts and the 
wliole Ijrielly, concisely, and in their own language. A 
brief reproduction, very nmch briefer than the original, if 
it is really a reproduction, of the essential thought of the 
original, is of much more value than an extended repro- 
duction. It requires that the pupil really make the thought 



THE METHOD EXPLAINED 49 

his own, condense it, and put it into his own language. 
To reproduce in two minutes and in 250 words what has 
been read in a half hour and in 4000 words is an exercise 
whose disciplinary value is never exhausted. 

The vast difference between real reading, and all exer- 
cises that merely resemble reading more or less remotely, 
is the difference between thinkinei; and not think- 

. . ° 25. Eead- 

mg, between mental activity and mental pas- ingis 
sivity. It is absurd to say that your pupils are ^° ^°^ 
good readers but poor thinkers ; such pupils never existed. 
You cannot make a child a good reader without at the 
same time making him a good thinker. Direct your efforts 
more to the child's thinking and less exclusively to the 
outward activities involved in reading and the desired re- 
sults will be more surely and speedily attained. 

13. Expression 

In the last section we discussed reading from the stand- 
point of the mental processes involved ; we tried to look 
inside the little reader's mind and see what goes on, and 
what ought to go on, there. We now turn our attention 
to those outward activities involved in oral reading, which 
are summed up under the term " expression." 

Good expression in reading is a result of two things, 
thinking and imitation. The teacher who prac- i. Expres- 
tically assumes that expression depends on only Jui^of^"' 
one of these, be that one which it may, will t^^iiikmg 

^ ^ and imita- 

achieve no great success in teaching oral reading, tion 
It would probably be hard to find a teacher who would 



50 LEARNING TO READ 

thoughtfully maintain that imitation alone will make really 
good readers, yet in practice many seem to depend upon 
imitation almost exclusively, and still more resort to this 
process frequently when only better thinking on the part 
of the child can produce the result desired. On the other 
hand, teachers are numerous who believe that if only the 
child can be made to think and to feel what he reads, ap- 
propriate expression will follow of itself. There is evi- 
dently need of a discriminating appreciation of the role 
which both thinking and imitation play in good reading. 

Without thinking there can be no really good expres- 
sion. In order to express appropriately what he reads, 
the child must actively think the thoughts and really 
2 The role ^^^^ ^^® emotions which he is trying to express 
of thinking tlirougli spokcu words. Tliis mental state on 
the part of the reader is the foundation, the source, the 
substance, of his expression ; it gives to his expression that 
ring of sincerity which cannot be produced by mere imita- 
tion. 

Expression, as a fact, is natural, spontaneous ; its form, 
however, is largely shaped by imitation, conscious or un- 
conscious. The development of language is natural to 
the little child. On entering school he is master of a 
spoken vocabulary which he uses, more or less 

3. The role ^ . ... 

ofimita- effectively, in expressing his thoughts and feel- 
ings. The words of his vocabulary, the manner 
of putting them together, he has acquired by imitating 
those about him. So, too, largely, but not entirely, hag 



THE METHOD EXPLAINED 51 

he acquired his habits of emphasis and inflection through 
imitation. His personal peculiarities of voice and manner 
give individuality to his expression. But as the child's 
vocabulary on entering school is limited, so are his habits 
of expression. Both vocabulary and expression will con- 
tinue to develop through imitation. The teacher must not 
ignore this fact. 

The child will imitate. The teacher is largely respon- 
sible for what he imitates, and the results. Without any 
model which is made to appeal to him consciously, the 
child imitates unconsciously the miscellaneous reading of 
his classmates. The result is always retrogression, never 
improvement in expression ; the whole class 4. Models 
grades downward instead of upward. The IIq^^^^^' 
teacher must keep consciously and constantly be- q^i^d 
fore her children strong models of good expression, of 
good reading. Only by a strong positive guidance which 
every pupil feels and to which he consciously responds can 
the teacher counteract and overcome the many negative 
but injurious influences to which the pupil is necessarily 
subject; only by such guidance can the teacher grade her 
class steadily upward. 

When the pupil understands what he is reading, but 
fails to express it adequately, let the teacher show him 
how ; let her bring out strongly, sometimes with exaggera- 
tion, the points which have been weak in the pupil's 
reading. The teacher reads thus, not that the pupil may 
merely imitate her voice mechanically, but for the purpose 



52 LEARNING TO READ 

of stimulating the piij)irs thought and feeling, of mak- 
ing; him fully realize what he only understood 

5. The ° ^ , , ^ 

effect of before, and letting him hear how another ex- 
presses the ideas and emotions represented on the 
printed page. The effect of frequent stimulating models 
from the teacher is not mechanical uniformity of expres- 
sion ; it cannot be that so long as each pupil really thinks 
and feels what he tries to express. The effect is rather 
an inspiration and a conscious effort on the part of every 
child to express what he reads as well as he can. 

The teacher may often improve the expression of her 
pupils quite as much by reading something else, as by 
6 The reading just what the pupils read. For instance, 
teacher [^L dialogue, let the teacher take the part of one 

need not o ' i 

readforthe of the Speakers, and the effect on the expression 
^^^^ of the pupil who takes the part of the other 

may be marked. In poetry — the despair of so many 
teachers, the aversion of so many pupils — let the teacher 
read one line, the pupil the next, and so on alternately, 
and the effect both on the pupil's expression and attitude 
is marvelous. The teacher may alternate in this way, 
line by line, with the class reading in concert. If the 
stanzas are short, not over four lines, the alternation may 
be by stanzas. 

It is a great advantage to be able to suggest to a pupil 
the spirit in which a passage or selection should be ren- 
dered by referring him to a type with which he is familiar. 
Any selection or passage which the pupil has learned to 



THE METHOD EXPLAINED 53 

read well, and whicli involves the expression of feeling 
similar to that required by the passage or selec- ^ Refer- 
tion before him, will serve as a type. The ^^<^^^° 

' ^ -^ ^ types of 

mere question, How did you read such and expression 
such a story ? or, How did such and such an one speak ? 
is often enough to cause the pupil to improve his render- 
ing a hundred per cent. It is another application of the 
principle of helping the pupil to use the knowledge or 
the power which he has. 

n the teacher is discriminating and judicious, she may 
at times hold up the reading of certain pupils, or certain 
features of their reading, as worthy of other pupils' emula- 
tion, each in his own way. This practice is stimulating 
to all concerned, but it should not be relied on exclu- 
sively to furnish sufficient models of good reading. 

A generous and intelligent rivalry in reading a given 
passage with the best possible expression is often profit- 
able. By this we do not mean to suo-o-est the 

• £• . • ., „ 8- Intelli- 

too common practice oi requiring one pupil alter gent rivalry 
another to "try" a passage which has not been ^'^"^ ^°^ 
satisfactorily rendered. The usual difficulty is that no one 
" tries" intelligently ; each one varies the expression with 
the vague hope that the teacher may consider the varia- 
tion an improvement. Finally some one is told to " read 
on," and no one is wiser for the several " trials," but all 
are, if possible, more uncertain than in the beginning 
about the suitable rendering of the passage. What is 
needed is a model, a standard, toward which each one can 
strive intelligently. 



54 LEARNING TO READ 

While thought and feehng are indispensable to good 
expression, it is equally true that good expression is one 
of the best means of arousing the appropriate thought 

9. Thought and feeling. The two, thought and expression, 
Sninse^pa- I'^allj caunot be separated in fact or in treat- 
rabie ment. Dramatizing, which has already been dis- 
cussed, is of equal aid to both. The teacher's story, live 
discussions with the pupils about the subject of their read- 
ing, intelligent reproduction, all are aids both to thought 
and expression. 

But there is one condition which perhaps more than 
anything else conduces to good oral reading — a condi- 
tion, which, strangely enough, is seldom supplied in the 
schoolroom. That condition is an audience, a hearer or 
hearers in whom the reader must try to arouse the 
thoughts and feelings represented by what he reads. It 

10. The is so easy to supply that condition — there are 
lacks a real ''ilways thosc present who might be an audience 
audience — ygt, the usual schoolroom routine effectually 
prevents its realization. The reader knows, if he thinks 
of the matter at all, that at best his classmates are listen- 
ing and following his reading in their books that they 
may "keep the place" and see whether he miscalls any 
words. They have already read what he is reading, or 
if not, they are now getting their ideas from their books 
rather than from his reading. Thus, the one chief pur- 
pose which oral reading serves outside the schoolroom is 
almost wholly ruled out of the process of instruction and 



THE METHOD EXPLAINED 55 

practice in that art. Because this necessary condition is 
absent, the one final test of good oral reading is seldom, 
if ever, applied in the schoolroom. That is the practical 
test which determines whether the reading does serve its 
true purpose; whether it does adequately convey to 
hearers the thoughts and emotions which the reader is 
trying to express. 

Nothing could be easier than to change the schoolroom 
routine so as to give to the oral reading exercise its normal 
function, and, in so doing, apply to each reader a test of 
his performance. It is only necessary to let the n. how an 
reader read to his classmates, who listen w^ith no m^a'ybTsup- 
books before them, something which they have p^^®^ 
not already read. The reader may, and usually should, 
thoroughly prepare what he is to read. This preparation 
he can make as part of his seat work. 

Probably the chief reason why this exercise is not more 
employed is that pupil-readers are not able to hold the 
attention of their audience. But that is the very reason 
why the exercise should be employed. It is 12. The ad- 
good both for the readers and the hearers. The readef^a*nd 
one should learn to read effectively to an audi- iiearers 
ence ; the others should learn to listen effectively to a 
reader. Effective reading and effective listening can be 
learned only by much practice under conditions that com- 
pel the reader to read and the listener to listen effectively. 

In an exercise such as suggested the hearers may 
be made to serve as critics in a way that will really 



56 LEARNING TO READ 

help the reader and help them. In general the extent 
13. Helpful to which the hearers are made to listen and 
criticism understand is in itself a measure of the success 
of the reader's performance. But more specifically the 
hearers, as critics, should be trained to note and to tell 
what they have understood well, what they have felt 
thoroughly, and why they have so understood and felt; 
conversely, they should note and tell what they could 
not understand, and if possible, give the reason for their 
failure to understand. Criticism of this kind directs 
the attention of hearers and reader to something really 
vital. It is very different from that criticism which is 
trained to note nothing but miscalled words and failures 
in trivial mechanical details. 

It is not intended to suggest that all school reading 
exercises should be of the kind described. But such 
exercises should have a growing place in the programme 
beginning by the end of the first year or early in the 
second. Care and judgment should be used in choosing 
what the pupil is to read. The selection should be short 
and interesting. The entire selection need not be read 
by a single pupil. The usual exercises should be con- 
sidered in a way preparatory to this test exercise. They 
should serve, so far as possible, to overcome the weaknesses 
which a pupil has shown in really reading to his classmates. 



CHAPTER II 

BOOKS, CHARTS, AND OTHER MATERIALS 

1. The Reading Chart and the First Books 

The Reading Chart, so called to distinguish it from the 
Phonic Chart, is used advantageously at the beginning 
in place of the Primer. With the Chart before 

. .1. Advan- 

them the teacher can readily control and direct tages of the 
the attention of the children to text or picture ; 
all find and follow easily what is pointed out ; children 
quickly learn to distinguish the words and follow the 
lines of the large type ; references, which all can see, are 
easily made from story to rhyme. 

The Chart does not relieve the teacher of the necessity 
of using the blackboard, but it does greatly lessen the 
amount of work that she would otherwise need to present 
in that way. 

The first twenty-one pages of the Chart and the first fifty- 
five pages of the Primer cover the same work and are nearly 
the same. The rhymes and the vocabulary are . 

identical; there is somewhat more reading matter ningthe 
in the Primer. When the above pages of the 
Chart have been covered, the Primer should be taken up, 
advance work on the Chart being suspended. 

The children should now be started at the beginning 

57 



58 LEARNING TO READ 

of the Primer. On account of their work on the Chart 
they will read the first fifty-five pages very readily. This 
fainiliarit}'^ with the first work in the l)Ook, due to the 
work with the Chart, is a great advantage, helping the child 
to become accustomed more easily than would otherwise 
be possible to the handling and use of the book. 

The work will continue in the Primer until that is 
completed. The rhymes given in the Primer to be memo- 
rized, following those that were also given on the chart, 
should be placed on the blackboards, or better, on separate 
charts, and kept before the children for reference as long 
as needed. 

When the Primer is completed, the children start on 
the First Reader. They should be given an easy intro- 
3 The duction to this book, by going back to the Chart 
First and completing; that from the point where the 

Reader , ^ ® ^ ^ . / i -r. • 

work was suspended on going into the Primer. 
The last two rhymes of the Chart are identical with the 
first two rhymes in the First Reader, and the matter 
immediately following these rhymes is similar. 

With most classes it is strongly advised that both 
4. Advis- Chart and Primer be used. But the work has 

able to use , , , . . ., , 

both Chart been SO arranged that it is possible to dispense 
andPrimer ^^j^j^ either the Chart or the Primer, not with both. 
If the Primer is not used, work is continued in the 
5 When Chart until that is completed. As already 
the Primer noted, the latter part of the Chart overlaps, 

is not used i i r» r c i -n- 

so to speak, the nrst lew pages oi the Jbirst 
Reader. This overlapping facilitates the transition from 



BOOKS, CHARTS, AND OTHER ^MATERIALS 59 

the Chart to the First Reader. Going directly from the 
Chart to the First Reader leaves no gap in the child's 
vocabulary. The advance in reading matter is well 
graded, bnt the difficulties increase more rapidly than they 
do in the Primer. When the Primer is used, the child not 
only gets consideraljle practice with easily graded reading, 
but he anticipates a large part of the vocabulary of the 
first part of the First Reader. Thus he is doubly prepared 
to take up that book. 

Children who, on account of age or limited natural 
capacity, tend to advance slowly, ought by all means to 
take the Primer; children who advance rapidly and surely 
may safely omit it. 

The Chart may be dispensed with. It is a great advan- 
tage, as already pointed out ; but it contains nothing 
which is not contained in the Primer. If the 

6. When 

Chart is not used, the Primer, of course, is fol- the chart is 
lowed from the beginning. The first part of the 
work, twenty pages at least, should be presented on the 
blackboard. Such presentation will supply in a measure 
the lack of the chart. It is strongly advised that the 
Chart be used with all classes. 

2. Cards 

There are two kinds of cards for class drill, " word " 
cards and " consonant " cards. 

Of the word cards there are two sets. The small set 
contains all the words used on the Reading Chart; 



60 LEARNING TO READ 

the large set contains all the words used in the Primer. 

1. Word The small set is used only when the Primer is 
cards ^ot used ; whenever the Primer is used, whether 
with the Reading Chart or not, the large set of word cards 
is used. Each word card contains one sight word, both in 
script and in print. For convenience the same word is 
printed on both sides of the card. 

The consonant cards, twenty-three of them, contain the 
following consonants and combinations of consonants : 

2. conso- ^j c, d, f, fj, h, j, k, I, m, n, jh qa, r, s, t, v, iv, tj, 

nant cards ^/^^ gj^^ ^/^^ ^^/^ Q^ ^^^ gj^g ,^f ^^^ ^^^d is the 

consonant alone in two forms, the capital and the small 
letter. On the other side is the word from which the con- 
sonant, forming the initial letter of the word, was learned ; 
underneath the initial consonant of the word is the same 
consonant standing alone. 

Both the word and the consonant cards are used in class 
drills for the purpose of perfecting the association of the 
appropriate spoken words and sounds with the written 
forms, so that the one will instantly suggest the 
cards are othcr. In thcsc drills much concert work can be 
done to advantage. The teacher holds her pack 
of cards directly in front of her about on a level with her 
face. She takes a card from the back of the pack and 
places it in front of the pack, without turning it over or 
around. As the same word or consonant is on both sides 
of the card she can see what that is as she takes the card 
from the back of the pack. 



BOOKS, CHARTS, AND OTHER MATERIALS 61 

To make this concert work thoroughly successful, all 
pupils should iAye perfect attention. One or a , „ 

r L ■ o i. ^ 4 Success- 

few must not lead and the rest fall in behind in fui concert 

their responses ; all should answer together as 
one voice. To secure such response, it should be under- 
stood that the teacher will hold the card still an instant 
beside the pack before placing it in front ; when it moves 
to the front of the pack, all are to give the word or sound 
together. This slight pause enables the slower as well as 
the quicker ones to prepare to answer at the signal, the 
moving of the card to the front of the pack. This pause 
may be lengthened if pupils are just learning words, or if 
some are slow in their recognition. 

This concert drill work should be quick and sharp. So 
conducted it is valuable as a mental gymnastic, as well as 
serving to produce the desired results in a fraction of the 
time required by individual drill. There should be suffi- 
cient individual drill to make sure that all pupils are 
really getting the words and sounds correctly. 

The various other ways in which these cards, particu- 
larly the word cards, are used, are fully described in the 
detailed directions in subsequent chapters. 

3. Rhyme Charts 

Rhyme Charts for reference, each chart containing a 
single rhyme, are hung about the room within easy sight 
of the children. From these the children are able to find 
for themselves the words they may not recognize in their 



62 LEARNING TO READ 

reading, as described elsewhere. When a rhyme has been 
memorized, its separate ch;irt should be hung on the wall, 
preferably low, within reach of the children, and allowed 
to remain there until every word in it is known so thor- 
oughly, wherever it may be seen, that no child will need 
to refer to the rhyme. Then the rhyme chart may be 
removed. The rhymes may be written, or printed, and 
kept on the blackboard when, for any reason, it is not 
feasible to use the charts. 

4. The Phonic Chart 

The Phonic Chart comes into use immediately after the 
completion of the Reading Chart or the Prhner and is used 
constantly throughout the remainder of the first year and 
dm-ing the second and third years. Consequently, as a 
matter of convenience, this chart is published in 
the Phonic combination with the Reading Chart, and also 
Chart is separately. The combined Phonic and Reading 

used 

Chart can best be used in the first year, the sepa- 
rate Phonic Chart in the second and third years. The 
Phonic Chart is reproduced page by page in this maniial, 
Chapter XXIII. 

The Phonic Chart contains one hundred and sixty-seven 
'^ series " or " families " of words, the words of each series 
„ „^ ^ containing the same vowel, or vowel combination, 

2. What the *^ ^ 

Phonic Chart with the Same sound. These words are so ar- 
contains ranged in columns that the child readily recog- 
nizes the common sound elements and their representa- 



BOOKS, CHARTS, AND OTHER MATERIALS 63 

tion in all the words ; with these he combines the initial 
consonant sounds which he has learned by thorough drill. 
The pronunciation of the series of words is thus easy. 
Following these one hundred and sixty-seven series are 
thirty-three series of miscellaneous words, each series still 
based, however, on a common vowel with a uniform sound. 

The words of this chart have been selected and arranged 
with great care. They not only serve the purpose of 
training in phonics ; they are all words representing simple 
ideas in common use by children. Most of them will be 
found already in the spoken vocabulary of the English- 
speaking child ; the rest of them are readily acquired. 
The chart contains altogether over two thousand different 
words, a fairly good-sized reading vocabulary. 3. character 
But the primary purpose of this chart is not to o^Jj^g"'^^'*^^ 
furnish the child with a complete reading vocab- Phonic chart 
ulary; it is to assist him in forming the habit of pronun- 
ciation — the habit of analyzing words and of associat- 
ing certain sounds with certain letters and combinations 
of letters. This habit puts within the child's power a 
reading vocabulary practically limited only by his experi- 
ence and understanding;. Althoug;h the treatment of 
phonics in this chart is not complete, and is not intended 
to be complete, it has been found to be quite sufficient to 
serve its purpose ; trained with this chart and in other 
ways which this reading method provides, pupils do ac- 
quire the habit desired. 

In subsequent chapters the order of taking up the 



64 LEARNING TO READ 

work with the Phonic Chart is indicated in detail. In 
i^eneral the regular series are taken up in about 

4. Order of ° , . , . , . 

taking up the Order m which they are presented in the 
chart. Usually a series is taken up for the first 
time when its initial word or words occur in the regular 
reading lesson. The series is frequently reviewed. The 
reference numbers at the head of each column, indicating 
other series in which the same vowel and vowel sound 
occur, but in a different vowel combination, enable the 
teacher to make review drills very effective. As much 
and as varied practice as necessary can be quickly given 
with the same vowel. Finally, the miscellaneous series, 
Nos. 168 to 200, afford opportunity for testing the pupil's 
power to recognize and to give the elementary sounds in 
more difficult combinations. 

In all work with this chart the teacher must insist on 

correct and distinct articulation. The series, furnishing as 

they do all possible combinations of consonant sounds with 

. . fixed vowel sounds, offer excellent material for 

5. Distinct 

enunciation practicing pupils in distinct enunciation. The 
require separation of the initial consonant or consonants 
from the vowel or vowel comljination helps the child to 
analyze the word into its elementary sounds and to give 
these distinctly. Where the separation of letters occurs, a 
slight pause, for the sake of distinctness, may be made in 
the pronunciation. This pause should be very slight and 
should be made only during the first practice with a series ; 
thereafter the words of the series should be pronounced 
as they are in regular reading. 



BOOKS, CHARTS, AND OTHER MATERIALS 65 

The habit of distorting words by over-analysis, empha- 
sis, and separation of their elementary sounds is g -v^ords 
most pernicious. It is formed at the cost of much "^^^t not be 

p . . Till distorted in 

time and ertort m separatmg sounds that belong pronuncia- 
together ; it is overcome by the expenditure of 
still more time and effort on "blend" drills which the 
habit alone makes necessary. Pupils should be taught at 
all times to pronounce words correctly. 

A considerable amount of concert work, after the teacher 
has made sure that all pupils are giving the correct sounds, 
may be employed to advantage. The teacher should use a 
pointer to indicate the words to be pronounced. The pupils 
should become able to give any word in the series without 
hesitation. They should also be practiced in " skipping " 
freely from one series to another on the same 7. concert 
page of the chart ; that is, within series on which J^°J^piJ^nic 
they have already been separately practiced. In chart 
this concert work the teacher should keep pupils together 
in their answers, not allowing one or a few to lead and 
the others to follow. This may readily be done by 
insisting that the word be given immediately when the 
pointer is removed from the word, not when the pointer 
first touches it. While the pointer rests on a word, 
a length of time of course always very brief but to be 
varied according to the requirements of the class, all 
pupils must determine what the word is and so be ready 
to give it instantly at the signal, which is the removal of 
the pointer. 



66 LEARNING TO READ 

The series of the chart should not serve merely for drill 

in phonics. Pupils should use the words in sentences. 

There will be very few words that some child in the class 

will not be able to use correctly. At first this 

8. Words to -^ 

be used in can be Only oral ; but by the second year sen- 
tences may be written. This makes a good lan- 
guage exercise. By requiring pupils to use the words, the 
teacher readily learns which w^ords are not in the chil- 
dren's spoken vocabulary. 

If the idea which the word represents is foreign to the 
children, the teacher should help them to get the idea by 
objects, pictures, descriptions, or such means as can be used 
most effectively. Thus, both the ideas and the vocabulary 
of the children are enriched. 

The chart may also be used to great advantage as a 
spelling chart. The careful analysis of words into their 
elementary sounds and the association of these sounds with 
the letters representing them is the best possible prepara- 
tion for spellins;. To spell a word orally — and 

9. Spelling . . . 

oral spelling should precede written — a child 
has only to name in order the letters which he already 
knows how to sound in pronouncing the word. In spelling, 
a word should always be pronounced distinctly and 
thoughtfully — that is, with attention focused on the ele- 
mentary sounds of the word — before it is spelled ; 
pronunciation after the word is spelled serves no 
purpose. For children just beginning spelling and for 
others who have difficulty in associating letters with 



BOOKS, CHARTS, AND OTHER MATERIALS 67 

their sounds, it. is helpful to spell the word "by sound," 
after it is pronounced, before spelling it by letters. 

With most classes oral spelling may well begin by the 
middle of the first year. Up to this time it is better that 
reference be made to the letters by their sounds jq. orai 
rather than by their names. No formality is spelling 
necessary in introducing the names of the letters. The 
teacher has only to call them by name ; she will find that 
the children will recognize most of them by name at once. 
Before the end of the first year the children should learn 
to "say the alphabet." This can best be done by concert 
repetitions. 

In written spelling the child should be taught to think 

the sounds of the word and the letters representing them ; 

his thought guides his hand in makino: the 

^1 *=> . 11. Writ- 

correct letters. Only as a result of much practice t3u speii- 

will the hand acquire the habit of spelling auto- ^°^ 
matically. The formation of this habit is facilitated, not 
hindered, by the guidance of conscious attention ; when 
that guidance becomes unnecessary, it will be spontane- 
ously withdrawn. 

The arrangement of the words in series greatly facili- 
tates the learning of their spelling. A series of twenty 
words may be more easily learned than five jg Advan- 
taken miscellaneously. The spelling;, of course, tageofthe 

'^ . series m 

should not be confined to the serial order. Just spelling 
as in pronunciation, when a few series have been learned, 
words should be taken from any of these series. Thus 



68 LEARNING TO READ 

review exercises in spelling, which should be frequent, may 
best be made up of words selected from several series and 
miscellaneously arranged. There are also many little 
words in constant use by the child, as soon as he begins to 
write, which do not occur in these series ; they are phon- 
ically irregular. These words must be learned separately. 
By the middle or end of the third year, children can 
readily learn to spell all the words given in the phonic 
13. What chart, together with a few hundred other com- 
third-year yciqyi short words. Tliis makcs a very respectable 

pupils can "^ ^ 

learn vocabulary of about twenty-five hundred words, 

no inconsiderable accomplishment for a third-grade pupil. 
But this accomplishment really involves something more 
than ability to spell these twenty-five hundred words ; 
it involves the acquisition of a power to master new words. 
The pupil trained to spell in this way instinctively analyzes 
new words, discerns at once their regularities and irregu- 
larities, applies his habit of associating certain letters or 
combinations of letters with certain sounds, and thus 
greatly reduces the difficulties which confront most pupils 
who have learned to spell word by word. 

5. Script and Print 

Pupils are best taught from the beginning to read both 
1. Pupils script and print with equal facility. This is 
ieaTs'cript ^^ ^^^J matter, if it is not made difficult. It 
and print jg Qj-^]y ncccssary to use both script and print 
first constantly. The first rhymes should be writ- 

ten on the blackboard, and read by the pupils from the 



BOOKS, CHARTS, AND OTHER MATERIALS 69 

board as well as from the chart. All the work which 
the teacher presents on the board, and that must be con- 
siderable even with the use of the Reading Chart, should 
be in script. The word cards contain both the printed 
and the written forms of each word for the purpose of 
making pupils equally familiar with both. 

The teacher should no more take the time to print 
words for the children, with the thought that the printed 
is easier for them than the written form, than 2. Teacher 
she should teach them to print before writing ^^j.^te'^Qot 
words. One form is as easy as the other. Of p"'^* 
course, the script put before the children should be very 
distinct and plain, without unnecessary and confusing 
marks and flourishes. 

6. Seat Work 

The seat work is not mere "busy work," something 
whose chief purpose is to keep the children at their seats 
quietly occupied while the teacher carries on a 1. seat 
recitation. The proper use of every device, ^ere'^blsy 
every exercise, contributes something to the ^o^k " 
great result sought — the power to read independently. 

The seat work throughout requires thought, discrimina- 
tion, and judgment on the part of the pupil — ^ ^^^^ 
such thought, discrimination, and judgment as the seat 
he is capable of exercising. It requires that quires and 
the pupil apply independently his knowledge of 
words, letters, and sounds as he acquires this knowledge. 



70 LEARNING TO READ 

Through the seat Avork the pupil not only becomes ready 
and skillful in the use of his knowledge, but he rapidly 
becomes conscious of his power, learns self-reliance, and 
experiences the stimulating sensation of personal achieve- 
ment. 

That the seat work may have all these important results 
and many more, the teacher must be extremely careful of 

3 How the ^^^^ conduct of the work. She must make the 
seat work requirements of each exercise definite and clear 

should be ^ 

handled to the children, and she must take time and 
pains to see that the children carry out the require- 
ments. These requirements should always be within 
the power of the pupils to execute, but they should not 
be too easy. An exercise or the use of a device should 
not be continued after it has been so thoroughly mastered 
by the pupils that it calls forth little or no intelligent 
effort. 

It is not expected that all the many methods and de- 

4 Qood vices described will be used by any one teacher 
judgment ^i\ ^\^q time. Good iudgment must be exercised 

necessary _ ^ j o 

in selecting those methods and devices which 
will best accomplish the result desired with any given 
class at a given time. 

5 Reading Since children learn to read independently 
the best f^y reading; independently, the seat work should 

seat work . , . 

consist largely in reading from interesting 
books, beginning such reading soon after the First 
Reader is taken up. 



BOOKS, CHARTS, AND OTHER MATERIALS 71 

7. Supplementary Reading 

The character of the method is such that children are 
in no way confined to the books of the Aldine series. 
They are taught from the beginning to apply ^ pup^jg 
the knowledge they have — be it a word, the t^^^X*/^ 
sound of a consonant, or of a vowel combina- Readers 
tion ; hence they are able to take up supplementary 
books at any time and read them with the degree of 
success which their vocabulary and knowledge of phonics 
make possible. 

It is advisable to confine the reading to the Aldine 
Primer until that is completed. When the pupils are well 
started in the Aldine First Reader, they may ^ ^^^^^ 
profitably carry on reading continuously in sup- suppiemen- 
plementary books. Their supplementary read- ing should 
ing should always be a little easier than their ^^"^ 
resrular readino; in the Aldine books. 

The pupils should apply and the teacher should help 
them to apply the same principles of assisting themselves 
in the supplementary reading which they apply in their 
resfular reading:. The teacher should always 

* ^ M 1 r ^- Treat- 

know just what knowledge her pupils have ot mentof 

words, letters, and sounds; thus she may help tary'read-'^ 

tliein wisely to help themselves. In the supple- ^^^ 

mentary reading, as in the regular reading, the teacher 

should never tell the pupils words which they are capable 

of making out for themselves ; she should assist them, 



72 LEARNING TO READ 

when necessary, by helping them to analyze words and to 
compare new with old. 

Pupils should read a large number of supplementary 
books, of the grade of Primers and First Readers, during 
the first year. Most classes will also be able to read sev- 
eral Second Readers, not too difficult. 

Supplementary reading should go along with the regu- 
lar work throughout the second year. After the second 
year, when all pupils should be fluent readers of anything 
they can understand, there need be no distinction between 
the supplementary and regular reading. The habit of 
self-help through knowledge of phonics, a habit which has 
long been well established, should be continued and 
strengthened. 

During the first two years, at least, regular, systematic 
work with the Aldine books, taken in order, with accom- 
4. Supple- panying charts, should be given daily. A large 
Sadin^ amount of supplementary reading matter is nec- 
necessary essary to givc the pupils ample opportunity to 
apply their power. Supplementary reading will usually be 
taken at sight, unless it be something which pupils have 
prepared in their study periods. 



CHAPTER III 

THE PRIMER, PAGES 1-4 ; THE CHART, PAGE 2 

Rhyme I 

Come away, 
Come and play. 

come and away play 

(Chart, p. 2 ; Primer, p, 3.) 

1. Tell the following story, introducing the rhyme. 

The Spring Story 

Once upon a time a little boy and his sister asked their 
mother if they might have some money and go to the 
store and buy some candy. 

" No, dears," answered Mother, " I think you 

. -, J- [Pages 2-4 1] 

have had all the candy that is good for you to- 
day. Run outdoors and play." 

Out walked the two children and sat down on the porch. 

" I don't want to play," growled the boy. 

" I think we might just have a little candy," whined the 
girl. So they sat on the porch and pouted. 

The little birds flew from tree to tree, build- „ , ^ 

[Page 3 ; 4 1] 

ing their nests and singing. They were so 
happy because spring had come. 

1 The marginal references are to pages and marginal numbers of this Manual. 
These references should be carefully studied. 

73 



U LEARNING TO READ 

The squirrels frisked and chattered on the lawn. They, 
too, were glad the winter was over. 

Even the yellow daffodils in the garden looked np and 
smiled at the warm sun. 

Every one seemed happy but our pouting boy and girl. 

Along the street came a crowd of boys and girls run- 
ing, laughing, and shouting. They were just as happy as 
the birds and squirrels. 

When they saw the cross little boy and girl, they shouted, 
" Stop pouting. Don't you know spring is here ? Now 
is the time to play and be glad." 

Then a big girl who was leading called, 

" Come away, 
Come and play." 

All the children took up the cry and shouted, 

" Come away, 
Come and play." 

They were having such a good time that our 
boy and girl could feel cross no longer. Smiles 
chased the frowns from their faces. They jumped up and 
ran off with the other children, laughing and singing, 

" Come away. 
Come and play." 

2. Teach the rhyme. Pupils should be trained to repeat 

all rhymes with good expression, with exact enunciation 

and articulation. They should memorize them 

[Pages 4-71 

perfectly. Frequent repetition will accomplish 



THE METHOD APPLIED 75 

this ; but the repetition should not be a merely mechanical 
saying of the words over and over. At each repetition, 
the rhyme should be actually used in such a way that it 
expresses an appropriate thought. This can readily be 
brought about through the use of the story, which has 
already repeated the rhyme several times. After telling 
the story, the teacher talks with the children 

. . . [Page 2 ; 2] 

about it, asking such questions as these : What 
did the big girl leading the children call out ? Show how 
the other children called to the little boy and his sister. 
What did the little boy and girl sing as they ran off to 
play with the other children ? 

In answer to each of these questions, the children give 
the rhyme. Very often these answers should be in con- 
cert. Thus all take full part, the stronger helping the 
slower. 

Again, in dramatizing the story, the rhyme is repeated 
over and over. Thus, when the story has been told, repro- 
duced by questioning, and dramatized, most children know 
the rhyme perfectly. It should be kept fresh in their 
minds by daily repetition — repetition in which the rhyme 
is really used, not merely repeated. 

3. Dramatizing the rhyme. The following manner of 
dramatizing this rhyme has been found very interesting 
to the children. Select a child for a leader. 
The leader skips through the aisles choosing 
several children to join him, touching each lightly and 
calling, 



76 LEARNING TO READ 

" Come away, 
Come and play." 

As each child is chosen he joins the company of skipping 
children and calls with them the words of the rhyme. 

4. Write the complete rhyme on the board as the children 
repeat it. Require pupils to look at the board while they 
repeat the rhyme. As they repeat point out, that is, 
measure off, each word thus : — 

Come away, 

Come and play. 

or thus. 



Come 
Come 



away, 
and I play. 



The pointer, cards, or the hands may be used to indicate 
just the limits of each word. 

5. Picture study. Only a few of the illustrations in 
Chart, Primer, and Readers are definitely referred to in 
this Manual. And these few are considered only in a 
suggestive way. For the sake of concreteness definite ques- 
tions are here given in connection with certain typical pic- 
tures ; but these questions are intended to suggest to the 
teacher only the character of the questions which may arise 
in the picture study. In the study of any given picture, the 
children studying it determine the questions to ask. Indeed, 
the children themselves, with guidance and suggestion, 
will ask most of the questions and answer them, too. 

All the pictures in chart and books are deserving of care- 



THE METHOD APPLIED 77 

fill study. They are an integral part of the stories, poems, 
and rhymes. Beautiful and attractive as the 

, . 1 T • 1 [Pages 7-8] 

pictures are, their greatest value lies m the. 
thought which they provoke. The page or half-page occu- 
pied by a picture may serve the child's advancement in 
thought and expression, hence in reading, more than the 
same space occupied by text. But that they may perform 
this service, the pictures must be used. To neglect the 
pictures is to neglect one of the most valuable features of 
subject-matter and of method. 

(Chart, page 2 ; Primer, p. 4.) Point to the big girl 
who is leading. What is she calling ? What is she going 
to play ? Tell what each child has to play with. Where 
do the pouting boy and girl live ? Can you see them ? 
Why not ? What will all the children call when they see 
the pouting boy and girl ? 

6. Individual work. Individual children, one after 
another, repeat the rhyme, pointing to each word as it is 
uttered. 

7. Teacher points to any word in the rhyme and requires the pupil 
to tell what it is. If he cannot tell at once, he should be 
required to go back to the beginning of the rhyme and to 
repeat it till he comes to the word he does not ^ ^ 
know. For example, suppose the teacher should 

point to the word and. The pupil does not know the 
word. So he begins at the beginning of the rhyme and 
reads, " Come away, Come and — , and.'' In this exercise, 
let the pupil handle the pointer. 



78 LEARNING TO READ 

A class exercise in pointing is helpful for concentrated, 
rapid drill on words in the rhyme. The teacher directs, 
"All point to come, to aivaij, to ^.'/rt/y, to andy The 
teacher touches the correct word each time, pronouncing 
it as she does so. The f)upils point with the forefinger 
to each w^ord, following the direction of the teacher, and 
pronouncing the word as they point. The teacher then 
calls any word in the rhyme and requires a pupil to point 
to it. 

8. Write words of the rhyme on the board in any order. Any 
pupil, as directed, gives each word as written. When a 
pupil does not recognize a word, he should find it in the 

rhyme; if necessary, he should read the rhyme 

[Page 6; 5] ^ ' ... 

from the beginning till he finds the required 
word. Pupils should be trained to turn at once to the 
rhyme, instead of the teacher, when they cannot recall 
a word. 

9. Drill with sight-word cards, [a) Place the cards contain- 
ing the words in the rhyme on the crayon shelf under the 
rhyme written low on the board. The cards must be right 

side up and spread out so that each is visible. 

Pupils are required to choose any card, hold it 
under the word in the rhyme which corresponds to the 
word on the card, and pronounce the word. Example : 
John chooses the card containing the word j^^f^y and holds 
it under the word ^9Z«?/ in the rhyme and says, " play." 
He then stands before the class, back to the board, hold- 
ing in plain view the card which he has " won." (h) After 



THE METHOD APPLIED 79 

all the cards have been thus won by the pupils, each in 
turn taking his place in front of the class and holding his 
card m front of him, the teacher writes a word on the 
board, and asks the children who have no cards to look 
along the line of cards held by the children in front, and 
to see who can find the card containing the word written 
on the board. The child who finds it places it under the 
word written on the board by the teacher and pronounces 
it. This child then holds the card, while the boy who 
first held it joins the rest of the class and the game goes 
on. This work must be rapid or the best results are lost 
and much time wasted, (c) Words should be read at sight 
from cards as they are displayed rapidly by [Page60;3; 
the teacher, who holds the pack of cards in p- ■ J 
front of her and takes one after another from the back 
of the pack and places it in front. As the teacher does 
this the pupils give each word, individually or in concert 
as required. 

The purpose of the above drills is to teach pupils to 
recognize words so quickly that as soon as sentences 
are placed before them they may be aljle to read each 
as a thought, not as a line of words. From the begin- 
ning, in all sentence work, the teacher must be sure that 
the pupil gets the thought and that he expresses it in his 
reading. 

10. Write the following^ sentences on the board. 

Come. 
Come away. 



80 



LEARNING TO READ 



[Page 68 ;1] 



[Pages 5-6] 



Come, come away. 
Come and i^lay. 
Come away and play. 
Away, away, come away. 

The teacher writes one sentence at a time. When that 
is read, the next sentence is written, and so on. 
After all are written they are re-read as many 

times as desired. 

The pupil should first study the sentence until he 

knows it, then read it aloud, smoothly and expressively. 
If the pupil does not recognize a word, he should 
turn at once to the rhyme and read from the 

beginning till he finds his word. For the first few rhymes 

the teacher should direct this search for the unknown 

word, but gradually the pupil must learn to find out the 

word for himself. As rapidly and as fully as possible, 

children should be made self-directive. 

11. Seat work. Materials : (a) A stiff m anil a card, 

4x7 inches, ruled off to contain as many spaces as 
^^^^^'^ ^^® words in the rhyme. The spaces 
should be each IJ inches long by IJ inches 

wide. Write the words of the rhyme in these spaces, 

making large letters, thus — 



Come 


away. 




Come 


and play. 



THE METHOD APPLIED 81 

(h) A manila envelope — it is convenient to have it just 
large enough to hold the 4x7 card — containing a num- 
ber of small cards. These cards should be 1^ inches long 
by 1 inch wide. On each small card is written a word 
from the rhyme. There should be at least six duplicate 
cards for each word in the rhyme. 

Each pupil at his seat should be provided with a large 
card and an envelope of small cards. The exercise con- 
sists in the pupil placing the small cards over the space on 
the large card, matching the words on the small cards 
with the words in the spaces. The pupil continues to do 
this until all his little cards are properly placed. As he 
places each card, he says softly to himself or thinks the 
word which it contains. 

With a hektograph the teacher can quickly make a set 
of large and small cards sufficient for the largest division 
of her class which will be having seat work at the same 
time. The small cards should be made in sheets and 
cut up. 

If a stout manila envelope of good quality is used, the 
face of it may be ruled off into spaces and the words of 
the rhyme written therein; thus the large card may be 
dispensed with. 



CHAPTER IV 

THE PRIMER, PAGES 5-9; THE CHART. PAGES 3-4 

Rhyme II 

Run with me 
To the tree. 

with run me 
the to tree 

(Chart, p. 3 ; Primer, p. 5.) 
1. Tell the story, introducing the rhyme. 

The Race 

One bright sunny morning two little boys, Harry and 
George, were playing together. They had played 
marbles, tops, and hide-and-go-seek. Now they 
did not know what to play. 

" Let us play horse," said Harry. 

"Very well," answered George. "You be my horse." 

" No, you should be my horse," said Harry. " I named 
the game." 

But George would not be the horse. 

" Then I won't play," he said. " I think the one who 
runs faster should choose." 

" Very well," shouted Harry, 

82 



THE METHOD APPLIED 83 

" Run with me 
To the tree." 

" Good," cried George. 

The two boys stood side by side. 

" One, two, three," counted George. 

Away the two boys ran as fast as they could, shouting, 

" Run with me, 
To the tree." 

Rover, the dog, jumped up from the grass and ran after 
the boys, barking loudly. He seemed to say, 

" Run with me 
To the tree." 

How fast they all ran and what a noise they made ! 
And who do you think got to the tree first ? 

Not Harry or George. They got there together, but 
Rover reached the tree long before either of the boys. 

" Rover must choose a game," cried George. " He 
won." 

" Yes, Rover, what would you like to play ? " asked 
Harry. 

Rover looked at the boys for a moment, then he ran 
barking toward another tree. 

What do you think he was trying to say ? 
(^Children answer) 

" Run with me 
To the tree." 

2. Teach pupils the rhyme thoroughly. See Chapter IH, 2. 



84 LEARNING TO READ 

3. Dramatize the rhyme. Let one child choose another 

child, saying, 

" Run with me 
To the tree." 

The two children then stand side by side at the back of 
the room while the children at their seats count, " One, 
[Page 10 • 4 ; ^^^? three ! " The two children then run to 
p. 12 ; 8] ^}je front of the room or to another child who 
may represent the tree. The child who wins chooses 
another child to run with him ; or other two children 
may run. 

4. Drill on the written rhyme. See Chapter III, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9. 
In the simple drill with the word cards [See Chapter 

III, 9 (c)], all the cards from the beginning should be 
kept in the pack ; the cards for the new words, 

[Page 15] -^ ^ . 

as learned, being added. As the pack gets 
larger, the older words — those most perfectly known — 
[Page 60 ; 3 : ^^^J ^^ removed, thus keeping the pack of inod- 
p. 6i;4] erate size, fifteen to twenty-five cards. The 
cards removed, however, should be taken up from time 
to time for review, so that they may be kept entirely 
fresh in the pupils' minds. 

5. Picture study. (Chart, page 3 ; Primer, p. 8.) Name 

the boys in the picture, pointina: to each. 

[Page 8; 2, 3] ^-^, . , *; ^ , . , . it t^ • , 

Which boy do you think is calling, "Uim with 
me, to the tree " ? 

6. Read the following sentences from the board. 

Come away. 
[Page 68; 1] /^ 

Come with me. 



THE METHOD APPLIED 85 



Come away with me. 

Come to the tree. 

Come with me to the tree. 

Come and play. 

Come and play with me. 

Play with me. 

Run and play with me. 

Run with me. 

Run away with me. 

Run. 

Run to me. 

Run to the tree. 

Run with me. 

Run with me to the tree. 

Run away with me. 

Run and play. 



[Page 2; 2] 



[Page 6; 4,6] 



^ [Page41;7,8J 

Run away. 

Run away and play. 

Run away and play with me. 

Run to tlie tree with me. 

Come to me. 

Come to the tree. 

Come to the tree with me. 

Come and run with me. 

Come, run away with me. 

Come and play. 

Come and play with me. 

Come away, 

Come and play ; 

Run with me 

To the tree. 



86 LEARNING TO READ 

7. Reading by doing. As an aid in securing intelligent 
thought reading, action sentences, entitled " Something to 
Do," are introduced from time to time. These sentences 
are to be written on the board, one at a time. The pupil 
reads the sentence silently and does what the sentence 
requires. After he has done it he should read the sen- 
tence aloud. To illustrate : when the pupil has read to 
himself the second sentence, he runs to the teacher ; then 
he reads the sentence aloud. 

In the fourth sentence the pupil runs to a picture of a 
tree — one on blackboard, a picture brought into the 
room, or the picture on the chart. In the hfth, sixth, 
and seventh sentences, he runs to another child and in- 
vites him to " Run with me," " Play with me," " Run and 
play with me." 

(Something to Do) 

1. Run. 

2. Run to me. 

3. Run away. 

4. Run to the tree. 

5. Run with me. 

6. Play with me. 

7. Run and play with me. 

8. Come to me. 

9. Come to the tree. 
10. Run away and play. 

8. Seat work. Make sets of cards for the second rhyme, 
[Page 69] and give exercise as directed in Chapter III, 11. 



THE METHOD APPLIED 87 

9. Phonics. Teach the sounds of r and c as they are 
given in run and come. [Pages I6-21] 

Write 7'un on the board, pronouncing distinctly r- and 
-un as they are written; separate these parts slightly, 
thus, r un. Let the pupils pronounce, the rp^gg 23-3 
teacher pointing to each part of the word as p- 24 ; 5] 
the pupils pronounce it. Write r alone under the r in 
run ; pupils pronounce r alone. Write r anywhere on 
the board, pupils pronouncing. 

Teach c in come in the same way. Write c and r on 
the board until the pupils can give the sound of either 
instantly and correctly as soon as written. Write the 
capitals as well as the small letters. C will give no 
trouble ; if i? is difficult, analyze Run, and drill as with r. 

Have pupils find and sound these letters, c, C, r, R, in 
words on the board. 



CHAPTER V 

THE PRIMER, PAGES 10-14 ; THE CHART, PAGES 5-6 

Rhyme III 

Boys and girls, come and play, 
Jump and run — away, away. 

boys girls jump 

(Chart, p. 5 ; Primer, p. 10.) 

1. Tell the story, introducing the rhyme. 

The Jolly Organ Grinder 

One day a joll}'' organ grinder came marching down the 

street. His organ was slung over his shoulder. On his 

[Page 2; 1; head was a bright red cap. He led a funny 

p-3;4] monkey by a long string. The monkey wore 

a red cap, too. 

Organ grinder and monkey stopped before a large 
house. The man began to grind his organ and to sing. 
This is what he sang, 

" Boys and girls, come and play, 
Jump and run — away, away." 

The monkey scampered in at the doorways ; he climbed 
up to the windows. He beckoned with his hands, as 
though he would say, 



THE METHOD APPLIED 89 

" Boys and girls, come and play, 
Jump and run — away, away." 

Out ran the boys ; out ran the girls. How they 
skipped ! How they jumped ! They danced round and 
round the organ grinder as he went on down the street. 
They sang with him, 

" Boys and girls, come and play, 
Jump and run — away, away." 

Soon they came in front of a schoolhouse. The door 
stood wide open. The school children saw the monkey 
and the organ grinder. They saw the boys and girls 
dancing and heard them singing, 

" Boys and girls, come and play, 
Jump and run — away, away." 

How the school children longed to jump from their 
seats and rush out ! They could hardly sit still. 

Just then the teacher tapped her bell and said, " Time 
for recess ! You may all run out and play." 

Out bounded every boy and girl. How the}^ jumped 
and shouted ! Down the street they ran, chas- 
ing the monkey and the organ grinder. All 
sang, 

" Boys and girls, come and play. 
Jump and run — away, away." 

2. Teach pupils the rhyme. Every one must memorize it 
perfectly. See Chapter HI, 2. 



90 LEARNING TO READ 

3. Dramatize the rhyme. Choose a leader. The leader 
chooses a number of children — the whole class if desired 

— saying, 

" Boys and girls, come and play, 
Jump and run — away, away." 

The leader marches around the room, the other children 
followino; him. All do iust what the leader does 

[Pages 8-1 3 J ^ '' 

— clap hands, wave hands, hands on shoulders, 
hands on head, hands on hips, march on toes, run, skip, 
jump, take chairs, etc. 

4. Drill on the written rhyme. See Chapter III, 4, 6, 7, 8, 
9 ; also Chapter IV, 4. 

Before giving the sentences following a new rhyme, it 
is well to drill on groups of words in the rhyme 
itself. For example, in the rhyme, 
" Boys and girls, come and play, 
Jump and run — away, away," 

the teacher indicates with the pointer the group of words 
which the children are to read, as, 

Boys and girls 
Jump and run 
girls, come and play 
Come and play. 

Tlie teacher draws the pointer quickly under these groups 
of words and the children read quickly and smoothly. 
Tliis exercise helps pupils to form the habit of reading 
rp 4Q.5g. words together smoothly in phrases, and coun- 
p 41 ; 7] teracts the tendency to form the habit of read- 
ing slowly and jerkily, word by word. 



THE METHOD APPLIED 91 

5. Picture study. (Chart, page 5 ; Primer, p. 10.) Did 
you ever see the picture of any of these children before ? 
Which ones ? Where ? How do you know 

they are the same children? What is the 
organ man singing? Why does he want the children to 
follow him ? What has the monkey in his hand ? What 
does the little girl think he is going to do with the cup ? 
Is she afraid ? Do you think the monkey thinks Teddy 
Bear is another monkey ? Look at the organ man's face ; 
see- how he is dressed. Is he an American? Where do 
the organ men you have seen come from ? 
See Chapter III, 5. 

6. Sentences to be read from the board. 

Come, boys. 

Come and play, boys. 

^ . / •^' -^ [Page 68; 1] 

Come, girls. 

Play with me, girls. 

Come and play. 

Come and play with me. 

Come and play with me, boys. 

Come and play with me, girls. 

Jump, boys, jump. 

Jump, girls, jump. 

Run, girls, run. 

Run, boys, run. 

Run, boys and girls. 

Run, girls and boys. 

Run to the tree, boys. 

Run to the tree, girls. 

Run to me, girls. 



92 LEARNING TO READ 

[Page 51; 4; R^n to me, bojs. 

p! 53 ; ' 8] P% with me, girls. 

Play with me, boys. 
Girls, play with the boys. 
Boys, play with the girls. 
Boys and girls, run and jump. 
Run away, boys. 
Run away, girls. 
Girls, run to me. 
Boys, run to the girls. 
Girls and boys, jump with me. 
Boys and girls, run to the tree. 
Run and jump, girls and boys. 
The boys jump. 
The girls jump. 
The girls run. 
The girls run to me. 
The boys run to the tree. 
The boys and girls run and jump. 
The girls and boys jump and play. 

7. Reading by doing. See Chapter IV, 7. 
Many of the above sentences may be used as action 
sentences, as well as the following. 

(Something to Do) 

Jump. 

Run, jump, run. 

Boys, jump. 

Jump, girls. 

Boys and girls, run. 

Boys, run. 



THE METHOD APPLIED 93 

Run to the tree, girls. 
Boys, run to the tree. 
Girls, run to me. 
Run to me, boys. 
Come to me, girls. 
Boys, come to me. 

8. The Reading Chart. 

It is now time to begin reading print from the Reading 
Chart. The passage from script to print will be easily 
made by the children as they are already some- [^^ge 57 ; i ; 
what familiar with the printed forms from the p- 59 ; 6] 
use of the word cards. The reading from the chart should 
begin at the very beginning, with the first rhyme. As 
there are no sentences on the chart which have not already 
been read on the board, the children will quickly read up 
on the chart even with their board work. From this time 
on reading from the chart should accompany the reading 
from the board, the latter being used rather to supplement 
the former. As pupils advance, reading from the board 
should give place more and more to reading from the 
chart. Reviews, which should be daily, should be read 
almost wholly from the chart. If no chart is used, read- 
ing should be done entjrely from the board for the present. 
A large number of sentences will be given in each chapter 
for that purpose. 

It is considered advisable to start pupils with script, but 
to take up print almost from the beginning, as here directed, 
and then to carry on the use of both forms together. 
Those teachers, however, who prefer to use only print 



94 LEARNING TO READ 

at first, will find the chart of great service, saving much 
board work, and will naturally use it from the beginning. 

9. Seat work, (a) See Chapter I, 11. On account of the 
length of the third rhyme the large cards and the en- 
velopes should be 4x9, instead of 4x7, and 

[Pages 69-70] ^ ' 

the spaces and the small cards should be 
shorter than heretofore. 

(h) Children arrange small cards in columns on the 
desk, placing all like words in the same column, as — 

Boys Girls 

Boys girls 

boys girls 

10. Phonics. Teach sound of j7 in jjlof/. See Chap. IV, 9. 
Begin drill with the consonant cards. Only three can 

be used at this time, the p, c, and r cards. These three 
[Pages 23-25; make the beginning of a pack, however, which 
60-61] ^vill constantly grow larger as each new con- 
sonant is learned and its card added to the pack. Daily 
drills — they need be only brief — should be given with 
this growing pack of consonant cards. There should also 
be daily practice in finding and sounding the consonants 
known in any words on the board or chart. Thus the 
children learn to associate instantly the proper sound with 
each consonant wherever seen, an invaluable habit a little 
later when they are mastering words phonetically. 

The teacher should be very careful that every pupil gets 
the correct sound of each consonant at the outset. Drill- 
ing incorrect sounds only prepares trouble for the future. 



CHAPTER VI 

THE PRIMER, PAGES 15-17 ; THE CHART, PAGES 7-8 

Rhyme IV 

Rain, rain, go away, 

Boys and girls want to play. 

rain go want 

(Chart, p. 7 ; Primer, p. 15.) 

1. Tell the story, introducing the rhyme. 

Tom Tucker's Soxg 

The boys and girls in Miss White's class were going to 
have a picnic — that is, if the next Saturday 
should be clear and sunny. 

" For, children," said Miss White, " we cannot go into 
the woods if it rains. And I hope it will not rain on Fri- 
day either; for if it should, the grass will be so wet, it 
will not be safe to go into the woods on Saturday." 

How the children did wish for two clear days, Friday 
and Saturday. At recess they all gathered in the school 
yard to talk it over. 

" If it is going to rain at all this week," said Jack 
Horner, " I wish it would hurry and rain Tuesday, 
Wednesday, or Thursday, and use up all the water in the 
clouds before Friday." 

95 



96 LEARNING TO READ 

" Rain, rain, go away, 
Boys and girls want to play," 

sang Tom Tucker, a big boy in one of the "upstairs 
classes," who heard what Jack Horner said. 

" Yes, we do want to play, don't we, boys and girls ? " 
asked Jack. 

" Yes, yes, yes ! " cried all of Miss White's children. 

" Well, then," said Tom, " why don't you sing my little 

song, 

' Rain, rain, go away. 
Boys and girls want to play ' ? 

If you sing that song often enough, it will frighten away 
the rain." 

" Will it really, Tom ? " asked a tiny little girl. 

" So I have been told," answered Tom. " I never tried 
it. 

" Let us try it," said Simon Simple. " Teach it to us, 
Tom." 

"All right," said Tom. "Every one say it with me — 

' Rain, rain, go away, 
Boys and girls want to play.' 

Now say it again — 

' Rain, rain, go away, 
Boys and girls want to play.' " 

Tom soon taught them the little song, and Miss White's 
children gathered together under the old apple tree in the 
school yard, and sang it over and over, 



THE METHOD APPLIED 97 

"Rain, rain, go away. 
Boys and girls want to play." 

Every recess time on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and 
Thursday, the children in Miss White's class gathered 
under the apple tree and sang the little song 
and not a drop of rain fell ! They began to 
think they really had frightened the rain away. But on 
Friday morning — sometime soon we shall hear what hap- 
pened then. Can you guess? 

2. Teach the rhyme. See Chapter III, 2. 

3. Dramatize the story. Have a group of children (Miss 
White's class) gathered in a corner of the room. One 
child tells excitedly that there is to be a picnic [Page 2; 2; 
on Saturday. Another qualifies this statement pp^9_\'i . 
by repeating the substance of what Miss White p-^^' ^^ 
said about the rain. Other children, representing Tom 
Tucker, Simon Simple, Jack Horner, and Tiny Little Girl, 
carry on the conversation of the story. 

4. Drill on the written rhyme. See Chapter III, 4, 6, 7, 8, 
9 ; also Chapter IV, 4. 

5. A good rapid word drill. The teacher places a list of 
new sight words, or old words needing more drill, on the 
board. She then covers one child's eyes with her hands. 
While this child's eyes are covered, a second child points 
to a word on the board. For example, the list may be — 

Come 
away 
go 



98 LEARNING TO READ 

play 
boys 
girls 

Suppose the second child points to girls. The first child's 
eyes are uncovered and he is given a pointer. He points 
to the words and asks, " Is it come f " The other children 
answer, " No, it is not come." " Is it aioay ? " " No, it 
is not away."" " Is it gof "No, it is not go."" "Is it 
playf' "No, it is not play.'' "Is it girls f' "Yes," 
the class answers, "it is girls.'" Another pupil is blind- 
folded, another word is chosen, and the game continues. 

For variety this game may be played with the word 
cards, {a) Place cards containing new words on the 
blackboard ledge or some other place in plain view. 
While one child has his eyes covered, have another child 
touch a card. Then the child whose eyes were covered 
tries to name the correct word as before. Change the 
order of cards frequently so that the pupils may not 
learn words from the position of the cards. (6) The 
teacher handles the cards. One child turns his back to 
the teacher. The teacher then holds up a card so that the 
other children can see it. The card is then placed with 
the other cards — hidden away — and the child is directed 
to face the teacher. As the teacher holds the cards, one 
at a time, before this child, the child asks the other chil- 
dren, "Is it hoy? " etc. They answer as in the first form 
of the game. 

The teacher must insist on the pupil naming the word 



THE METHOD APPLIED 90 

to which he points — "Is it — girlf And the other 
pupils must name the word in their answer — " Yes, it is 
girl!' This repeated association of the spoken word with 
its written form soon results in binding the two together 
indissohibly in the child's mind. 

6. Picture study. (Chart, page 7 ; Primer, p. 15.) Which 
child do you think is Simon Simple ? Jack 

. [Pages 7-81 

Horner ? The tiny little girl ? What are they 
singing ? 

See Chapter IIT, 5. . 

7. Sentences to be read from the board. 

Rain, go away. 

u 1-1 ^ ^ 1 [^*ee 61 ; 3] 

rsoys and girls want to play. 

Boys want to jump. 

Girls want to run. 

Boys and girls want to run and jump. 

The girls want to come with me. 

The boys want to go away. 

The girls want to play with me. 

The boys want to run to the tree. 

Go away, boys. 

Run away to the tree. 

Come with me, girls. 

Boys want the rain. 

Boys want to play in the rain. 

The boys want to run and jump in the rain. 

Run in the rain, boys. 
Run away in the rain. 
Run and jump in the rain. 

LOfC. 



[Pages 5-6] 



loo LEARNING TO READ 

Play with me, boys. 

Run and play with me in the rain. 

The girls want the rain to go away. 

Rain, rain, go away. 

The girls want to run away to play. 

8. Seat work. See Chapter 1, 11, and Chapter V, 9. 

With the small cards in the envelope, pupils 

[Pages 69-70] +1 • 1 1 • / 

make the rhyme on their desks, copymg irom 
the large card. 

9. Phonics. Teach the sounds of h in hoy and g in girl. 

See Chapter IV, 9, and Chapter V, 10. 

[Pages 23-25] ^ . , ^ 

For ear training, pronounce clearly words 
beginning with sounds already taught ; ask pupils to tell 
with what sound each word begins. 



CHAPTER VII 

THE PRIMER, PAGES 18-23 ; THE CHART, PAGES 9-10 

Rhyme V 

Rain, rain, go away. 

Come again some other day. 

day again other some 

(Chart, p. 9; Primer, p. 18.) 
1. Tell the story, introducing the rhyme. 

How Jack Horner sang the Rain Away 

You remember the story about the* children in Miss 
White's class who were going on a picnic, do you not ? 
You remember the little rhyme they sang on 
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday ? 
And not a drop of rain fell on those days. But on Friday 
morning, Jack Horner jumped out of bed and ran to the 
window, and — oh, dear ! how can I tell you ! — The rain 
had come at last ; not in a few little drops that pattered 
against the window panes, but in torrents. It just poured ! 

"Oh, dear! Oh, dear !" cried Jack. " Whatever shall 
we do ! The woods will be wet and we can't have our 
picnic! Oh, dear, dear, dear ! " 

"Don't cry," said Mother, "perhaps it will be all over 
by noontime. I think it will. Just be happy and sing, 

101 



102 LEARNING TO READ 

' Rain, rain, go away. 
Come again some other day.' " 

"Oh, Mother, don't sing that," said Jack. "If you do, 
the rain might go away now and come back to-morrow, 
and that would be worse." 

• At nine o'clock it still rained so hard that Jack could 
not go to school, for he was a very little boy and the 
school was a long way from his home. 

Poor little Jack ! He could hardly keep the tears from 
rolling down his cheeks just as the raindrops rolled down 
the window pane. 

"It's bad enough to have it rain and spoil the picnic," he 
cried, "but it is worse to have it rain to-day and keep me 
home from school, too." 

He stood at the window, looking out at the rain, and 
before he knew it, he found himself singing softly, 

"Rain, rain, go away, 
Come again some other day." 

As Jack watched, the sky seemed brighter. And he 
sang louder and more cheerfully — 

"Rain, rain, go away, 
Come again some other day." 

Over and over again he sang it — 

"Rain, rain, go away, 
Come again some other day." 

Soon the sun really began to shine through the rain. 



THE METHOD APPLIED 103 

The rain stopped and a beautiful rainbow shone in the 
sky. 

Jack clapped his hands. " Oh, Mother ! " he cried, "just 
look at that rainbow ! It chased away the rain just as 
though it sang, 

' Rain, rain, go away. 
Come again some other day.' " 

" Yes," answered Mother. " The rain is over. You 
may go to school this afternoon. This bright, warm sun 
will soon dry the grass, and I think you will be able to 
have your picnic to-morrow." 

2. Teach the rhyme. See Chapter ITT, 2. 

3. Dramatize the story. Choose a boy for little Jack 
Horner. He may look out of the window and tell how 
grieved he is because it rains. Another child 

may be the mother, and cheer Jack up by teach- 
ing him the rhyme. Jack repeats the rhyme, looking out 
of the window. Soon he turns from the window and says, 
" The sky is getting brighter. Oh, see that rainbow, 
Mother. The rain is over. May I go to school this after- 
noon ? " The mother answers as in the story. 

In dramatizing, pupils should not be required or even 
encouraged to use the words of the story. Original, fluent 
expression that conveys the thought should be cultivated. 

4. Drill on the written rhyme. See Chapter TIT, ^^^^gQ^Jg^^ 
4, 6, 7, 8, 9 ; Chapter TV, 4, and Chapter VI, 5. p.' ei'; 4] ' 

5. Picture study. Chart, page 9 ; Primer, p. 18). What 
is the little boy's name? What time of day is it ? How 



104 LEARNING TO READ 

do you know ? (Child in night clothes.) Why did Jack 
Horner get up so early and run to the window ? Why is 
he crying ? What song should he sing ? 
See Chapter III, 5. 

6. Sentences to be read from the board. 

Rain, go away. 

Go away, rain. 
[Page 93] Go away to-day. 

Some girls want to play. 

Some girls want to play to-day. 
[Pages 5-6] Other girls want to run. 

Rain, go away. 
[Pages 40-41] Come again, rain. 

Come some other day. 

Some boys want to jump. 
[Pages 49-52] Some boys want to play. 

Some boys want to play to-day. 

Come some other day, rain. 
Some boys want the rain. 
Some boys play in the rain. 

Some boys jump. 

Other boys run. 

Some boys jump again and again. 

Some boys run to me. 
Some boys run to the tree. 
Other boys run away. 

Run to me again, boys. 
Run again to the tree. 



THE METHOD APPLIED 105 

Run to some other tree. 

Some girls want the rain. 

Other girls want the rain to go away. 

Some girls want to jump. 

Other girls want to run and play. 

Some girls want to play in the rain. 
Other girls want the boys to play. 

Some girls want to play with the boys. 
Some boys want to play with the girls. 

Go away, rain. 
Go away to-day. 

Come again, rain. 

Come again some other day. 

7. Reading by doing. See Chapter IV, 7. 

(Something to Do) 

Come to me, boys. 

Run away. 

Come again, boys. 

Run away again. 

Some other boys come. 

Go away again. 

Come to me, girls. 

Go away, girls. 

Boys and girls, come to me. 

Run away, boys. 

Girls, run away. 



106 LEARNING TO READ 

8. The Primer. Those teachers who are not using the 

Reading Chart may profitably begin the use of the Primer 

.« , at about this point. The transition from the 

[Page 57 ; 1 ; ^ . 

p. 58; 4; board to the book will not be difficult, as the 
^ ' pupils are already familiar, through the use of 
the sight-word cards, with the printed forms of the words. 
They should begin to read the book from the beginning. 
They will, thus, quickly review all that they have read 
from the board. From now on, reading from the board 
will rapidly give way to reading from the book. 

9. Seat work. See Chapter I, 11 ; Chapter 
[Pages 69-70] ^^ ^^ ^^^ Chapter VI, 8. 

Very soon after pupils begin to read in class from the 
Primer they should begin to have study periods for read- 
ing at their seats certain stories or assigned groups of 
sentences in the book. They should be taught to refer 
to the rhymes which they have memorized to find words 
which they do not recognize in the text. 
^^* ' The sentences thus read at the seats will, of 
course, be read aloud in class. 

10. Phonics. Teach the sound of d in dai/. See Chapter 
IV, 9, and Chapter V, 10. 

Require pupils to give words beginning with sounds 
already studied. The words given may or may not be 
words studied by the pupils in class. For example, should 
the teacher call for words beginning with the sound of j), 
the pupils may give, indeed often do give, such words as 
play, pie, pip)e, jiumpk'm, Peter, p)ull, put, papter, pencil, 



THE METHOD APPLIED 107 

picnic. In giving the words, pupils slightly exaggerate 
the sound of the first letter. 

Interest is often aroused by letting these sound drills 
take the form of games, as follows : A pupil passes around 
the room touching any number of objects. Instead of 
naming them he gives the sound with which the name 
begins ; as, touching the board, he gives the sound of h, 
touching the desk, he gives the sound of d. As soon as 
the pupil makes a mistake he takes his seat and the child 
who gives the correct sound takes the first pupil's place. 
For concert work the teacher may point to the objects and 
pupils give the sounds. 

Similar drills may be given with lists of words on the 
board or with the words on a page of the reading chart. 
But in the drill with written or printed words the child 
should give not only the first sound, but also the word as 
a whole. For example, with the words (/irl and come: the 
child should first point to the letter g, sound it, and then 
pronounce the word r/irl ; point to c, sound it, and then 
pronounce the word come. Of course all this work should 
include only words studied by the children. 



CHAPTER VIII 

THE PRIMER, PAGES 24-30; THE CHART. PAGES 11-13 

Rhyme VI 

Sing, little girl, 
Sing, little boy, 
The rain is over, 
Sing for joy. 

sing is over little joy for 

(Chart, p. 11 ; Primer, p. 24.) 

1. Tell the story, introducing the rhyme. 

Miss White's Picnic 

Would you like to hear about Miss White's picnic ? 

On Saturday morning the sun was shining as though it 
had never hidden behind the big, dark rain clouds. At 
nine o'clock the children gathered at the school- 
house. Each child carried a box or a basket of 
lunch. I wish I had time to tell you all the good things 
these boxes and baskets held. 

Jack Horner said he had a Christmas pie for his lunch. 

Simon Simple said, " I have for my lunch the whale 
that I caught in my mother's pail." 

The children all laughed and each tried to think of 
something funny to say he had for lunch. 

108 



THE METHOD APPLIED 109 

But now a big wagon drove up to the door, and the 
children rushed out and cHmbed into it and away they 
drove. 

" Let us sing something," said one little boy. 

" Shall we sing, ' Rain, rain, go away ? ' " asked Simon 
Simple. 

"No," said Miss White, "let us sing this — 

"Sing, little girl, 
Sing, little boy, 
The rain is over, 
Sing for joy." 

" Good, good ! " shouted the children. So they quickly 
learned the little rhyme and sang merrily all the way — 

" Sing, little girl, 
Sing, little boy, 
The rain is over. 
Sing for joy." 

Soon they reached the grove where the picnic was to be 
held. 

Swings had been put up under the trees. The children 
rushed to them. Up, up, up they flew almost to the 
branches! As they swung they sang their new song, 

" Sing, little girl. 
Sing, little boy, 
The rain is over, 
Sing for joy." 

All day long they played games, ran races, and ate 
lunches. At last tired, but very happy, they sat down 



110 LEARNING TO READ 

under the trees to rest. But not one was too tired to join 
in singing the new song — 

" Sing, little girl, 
Sing, little boy, 
The rain is over, 
Sing for joy." 

2. Teach the rhyme. See Chapter III, 2. The teacher 
may play that she is Miss White ; her pupils may be 
Miss White's children sitting in the wagon on the way 
to the picnic. 

3. Drill on the written rhyme. See Chapter III, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9 ; 
Chapter IV, 4, and Chapter VI, 5. 

All rhymes should be kept on the blackboard, or on 
separate charts, low enough for pupils to reach them. 
These rhymes are to be used by the pupil as an 
aid in finding for himself, at any time, any word 
he may have forgotten. For example, a child is reading 
from board or chart. He comes to the word loitli, which 
he does not recognize. Instead of telling him the word, the 
teacher says, " Find it in Rhyme II." The teacher then 
goes on with her recitation, leaving the child to find the 
word for himself. He walks over to Rhyme II and reads 
until he finds the word ivith. Then he joins the class and 
reads the sentence. Too much emphasis cannot be put 
upon the importance of training the pupil to work thus 
independently. 

The following device for reviewing words is worth 
using occasionally. Give each child a card (one of the 



THE METHOD APPLIED 111 

large word cards) containing a word already taught. 
Each child runs to the " reference rhymes " with his 
card and places it under the same word in a rhyme. The 
teacher passes quickly from child to child, collecting the 
cards as the words are pronounced correctly. If a child 
cannot read his word, he is directed to repeat the rhyme 
till he comes to the right word. 

4. Picture study. (Chart, page 11.) For what are the 
children waiting ? Which child do you think will see the 
wagon first ? Show me Jack Horner. The 

tiny little girl. Simon Simple. What have 
the children in the boxes, pails, and baskets ? What did 
Jack Horner bring for his lunch ? What did Simon Simple 
bring ? Do you think Miss White and the other children 
will come in the wagon t Do the children look glad be- 
cause the rain is over ? What song will they sing ? 

5. Reading from the board. 

Sing-, little girls. 

Sing, little boys. [Page 3; 6] 

The little girls sing, 

" Rain, rain, go away, 

Come again some other day." 

The little boys sing, 
" The rain is over. 
Sing for joy." 
Sing again, little girls, 
Sing again, little boys. 
Sing, for the rain is over. 
Sing to-day for joy. 



112' LEARNING TO READ 

Come, sins: with me. 
[Page 13-15] ^,. .,, ^ . , , , 

feing with me, girls and boys. 

Sing with me for joy. 

The rain is over. 
The rain is over for to-day. 
Sing, little girl. 
Little boy, sing. 
[Pages 40-41; ging^ boys and girls, sing for joy. 
p. 45 ; 15] Run, little boys, run and jump. 
Sing, little girls, sing and play. 
The rain is over. 
Boys and girls play to-day. 

Sing and play, little girls. 

Play and sing, little boys. 

Sing again for joy, little girls. 

Run and jump again for joy, little boys. 



[Page 54 ; 9] 



Come again, rain. 
Come some other day. 
To-day is for play. 
To-day is for joy. 

Sing, girls, sing for joy. 

Sing, boys, sing with the girls. 

Sing, boys, for the rain is over. 

Sing, boys and girls, sing again and again. 

6. Drill on the regular singular and plural forms of nouns and 
verbs. After this exercise use either form without any 
formal drill. 



THE METHOD APPLIED 113 

girl girls jump jumps 

boy boys rain rains 

tree trees want wants 

play plays come comes 

run runs sing sings 

The little girl sings and plays. 

The little girls sing and play. 

The little boy jumps and runs. 

The little boys jump and run. 

The rain comes. 

The girl runs over to the trees. 

The boy plays in the rain. 

The girl wants the rain to go away. 

The boys want the rain to-day. 

7. Seat work. See Chapter I, 11, Chapter V, 9, and 
Chapter VI, 8. With small cards pupils recon- 
struct the rhyme on their desks following the 
printed copy on the chart. 

8. Phonics. Teach the sound of s in sing and of / in joy. 
See Chapter IV, 9, Chapter V, 10, and Chapter VII, 10. 



[Pages 69-70] 



CHAPTER IX 

THE PRIMER, PAGES 33-39 ; THE CHART, PAGES 14-15 

Rhyme .VII 

Little Bluebird in the tree, 
Sing a song to me. 

blue bird a song in 

(Chart, p. 14; Primer, p. 33.) 

1. Tell the story, introducing the rhyme. 

The Bluebird 

Miss White's children, who went on the picnic, were so 
happy they sang all the songs they knew. 
These are the songs they sang. Let us say 
them together. 



Come away, 
Come and play. 

Run with me 
To the tree. 

Boys and girls, come and play, 
Jump and run — away, away. 

Rain, rain, go away. 
Boys and girls want to play, 
lU 



THE METHOD APPLIED 115 

Rain, rain, go away, 

Come again some other day. 

Sing, little girl, 
Sing, little boy, 
The rain is over, 
Sing for jo}^ 

When they had sung all their songs over and over, 
little Jack Horner cried out, '' See that little bluebird in 
the tree ! Why doesn't he sing ? " 

"Perhaps he is only waiting to be asked," answered 
Simon Simple. 

"Let us ask him," said Miss White. And she called 
to the little bird, 

" Little Bluebird in the tree. 
Sing a song to me." 

The little bird sat still and made no sound. Miss 
White called again, 

" Little Bluebird in the tree. 
Sing a song to me." 

Still the little bird was silent. 

" Perhaps if we all ask him together, he will sing to us," 
said Simon Simple. 

" Perhaps he will," said Miss White. " Let us try it. 
All say with me, 

' Little Bluebird in the tree, 
Sing a song to me.' " 

Miss White and the children said over and over, 



116 LEARNING TO READ 

" Little Bluebird in the tree, 
Sing a song to me." 

But little Bluebird did nothing more than hop about 
from branch to branch and look at them. 

2. Teach the rhyme. See Chapter III, 2. 

3. Dramatize the story. Children represent Bluebird, Jack 
Horner, Simon Simple, and Miss White. Follow the main 
[Page 9- 2- Gvcnts of the storj, somewhat as follows: 

pp. 10-11] (Child on chair for Bluebird.) 

Jack Horner. — See that dear little bluebird! Why does he 
not sing ? 

Simon Simple. — Maybe because no one has asked him. 
Miss White. — I will ask him. 

Little Bluebird in the tree, 
Sing a song to me. 

(Bluebird hops about, but does not sing.) 

Miss White. — I will ask him again. (Repeats the rhyme.) 
Simon Simple. — Perhaps if we all ask together, he will sing 
to us. 

Miss White. — Perhaps he will. Let us try it. 

All. — (Repeat rhyme.) 

Jack Horner. — Let us try once more. 

tIZ?. — (Rhyme.) 

(Bluebird flies away; that is, the child flies to his seat.) 
Simon Simple. — There, he has flown away. 

4. Drill on the written rhyme. See Chapter III, 4, 6, 7*, 8, 
9 ; Chapter IV, 4 ; Chapter VI, 5, and Chapter VIII, 3. 

5. Picture study. (Chart, page 14 ; Primer, p. 33.) At 



THE METHOD APPLIED 117 

what is Jack Horner pointing ? What does he want Bhie- 
bird to do ? What song did Miss White teach the children 
to sing to Bluebird ? 

See Chapter III, 5. 

6. Reading from the board. 

Sing, little Bluebird. 

Sina: a sonff to me. ^^ „ „, 

o- .^11 [Page 2; 2] 

Smg a song to the boys. 

Sing a song to the girls. 

Little girls, sing a song. ^^ ^, „^ 

e- .fa., • • " [Page 61; 3] 

femg, "Ihe rain is over. 

Sing to the little bird. 

Sing with the little boy. ,„ ,, „., 

*' [Page 41 ; 7] 

Sing to Bluebird. 

Sing again for joy. 

A little bird is in the tree. 
The bird is a bluebird. 
The bluebird sings a song. 
Little Bluebird sings to me. 
Bluebird sings to a little girl. 
Bluebird sings to a little boy. 
The rain is over. 
Bluebird sings for joy. 

Sing to me, little Bluebird, 
Sing a song to me. 
Sing some other songs. 
Sing again, little Bluebird. 
Sing other songs to me. 
Sing in the tree. 
Sing for joy. 



118 LEARNING TO READ 

Sing to the little girl. 

Sing to the little boy. 

Sing, little bird, sing for joy. 
Who I 
Boy. — "Who wants to jump ? 
Grirl. — I want to jump. 
Girl. — Who wants to run ? 
Boy. — I want to run. 
Boy. — Who wants the rain? 
Crirl. — - The little boys want the rain. 
Girl. — Who wants the rain to go away ? 
Boy. — Little girls want the rain to go away. 
Boy. — Who sings for joy ? 
Girl. — I sing for joy, little boy. 

7. Silent reading. Pupils read each of the following sen- 
tences silently, then answer aloud. Thus, to the first 
question, Who wants to run with me? the pupil may 
answer — A little boy wants to run with me. The second 
question, Who wants to jump ? may be answered, I want 
to jump, or, A little girl wants to jump. 

Sometimes the teacher allows the child to run to her 
and whisper the answers, to the questions. Then she 
writes them on the board, each answer under the ques- 
tion to which it belongs. When this written exercise is 
finished, the questions and answers make a good dialogue 
tliat may be read by two children, one reading the ques- 
tions, the other the answers. 

(Silent Reading) 
Who wants to run with me ? 



THE METHOD APPLIED 119 

Who wants to jump ? 

Who wants the rain to come ? 

Who wants to play in the rain ? 

Who wants to sing ? 

Who wants to sing a song to me ? 

Who sings in the tree ? 

Who sings a song to me ? 

Who sings, " The rain is over " ? 

Who wants to run away with me ? 

Who wants to run to the tree ? 

Who wants to run again ? 

Who jumps and runs away ? 

8. The Primer. Those teachers who are using both the 
Reading Chart and the Primer should have the pupils 
begin reading from the latter at about this ._ ,„ ., 

& ^ [Page 57 ; 2] 

point. It will be well to let them read the 

book from the beginning, thus reviewing at first the work 

they have had from the chart and the board. 

9. Seat work. See Chapter I, 11; Chapter V, 9; Chapter 
VI, 8, and Chapter VIII, 7. 

As soon as books are placed in pupils' hands, they should 
begin to read from them to themselves, at their seats. 
This is one of the most profitable kinds of busy work. In 
reading for themselves they are getting the best kind of 
training in independent work, in applying what they have 
already learned. If, at first, they are given something to 
read from the Primer which they have already read from 
the chart and board, the demand on their powers will not 
be too great. As they become accustomed to the use of 



120 LEARNING TO READ 

the book, they will be able to undertake advance work 
successfully. Reference to the rhymes which they have 
memorized — a habit which the pupils should have well 
established by this time — will enable them really to read 
the stories which contain only such words as have already 
been used in rhymes. The jDupils' growing knowledge of 
phonics will enable them gradually — if properly applied 
— to read far beyond the power afforded by their vocabu- 
lary of " rhyme " words. 

The child experiences a peculiar and keen delight in 
his power to read independently. Once let him become 
conscious of that power, and his problem of learning how 
to read is essentially solved. Give him the opportunity 
and he will learn to read by reading. All the help that 
the teacher can afford will be doubly helpful because the 
child knows how to use the assistance o-iven. 

Because the beginning of independent reading at the 
earliest possible moment is of such importance, not only 
as an accomplishment in itself, but especially as the most 
effective means of sure and rapid advancement in the art, 
it should be given every care and encouragement. What 
a child has read to himself, he should read afterward in 
class, or, often better, to the teacher alone. Let the teacher 
encourage that feeling of wholesome pride which the child 
naturally experiences when he has done something all by 
himself. 

10. Phonics. Teach the sound of I in little and of m in 

rpaees 23 251 ^^^^^ ^^^ Chapter IV, 9; Chapter V, 10, and 
Chapter VII, 10. 



CHAPTER X 

THE PRIMER, PAGES 40 46 ; THE CHART, PAGES 16-17 

Rhyme VIII 

Sing, little Bluebird, 
Tell of the spring ; 
Sing, little Bluebird, 
The glad news bring. 

tell of spring 

glad news bring 

(Chart, p. 16 ; Primer, p. 40.) 
1. Tell the story, introducing the rhyme. 

The Bluebird's Son^g 

"Miss White," said Simon Simple, "Miss 
White, I think I know why Bluebird does not 
sing to ns." 

" Why is it, Simon ? " asked Miss White. 

" Because he doesn't know what to sing ; he doesn't 
know what to say," answered Simon Simple. 

" Of course the bluebird knows what to sing. All birds 
have songs that they know," cried Jack Horner. 

" But we didn't know what to sing until Miss White 
taught us," said Simon Simple. " Miss White taught us 

121 



122 LEARNING TO READ 

every song we know. Do you think a little bluebird 
knows more than boys and girls ? " 

"Maybe Simon is right," said Miss White. "Anyway, 
it will do no harm to try to teach the little bird. Come, 
Bluebird, come. We'll tell you what to sing about." 

Little Bluebird seemed to be not one bit afraid, for he 
flew right down among the children and lighted on a 
stump. 

"Come, children," said Miss White, "let's tell Bluebird 
what to sing. 

' Sing, little Bluebird, 
Tell of the spring ; 
Sing, little Bluebird, 
The glad news bring.' 

Now all sing it with me." 

All the children joined hands and made a big circle 
about Bluebird, and they sang over and over, 

" Sing, little Bluebird, 
Tell of the Spring ; 
Sing, little Bluebird, 
The glad news bring." 

At last little Bluebird sang, oh, so sweetly. He sang 
about the spring ; he sang about the birds and flowers. 
It was such glad news. 

2. Teach the rhyme. See Chapter III, 2. 

Be sure pupils get the thought in this rhyme, or it will 
be hard for them to learn the words. Ask 

[Page 4; 2] | . 

such questions as^ What does Bluebird tell of 



THE METHOD APPLIED 123 

the spring ? What news does Bluebird bring ? Why do 
we call it glad news ? 

3. Dramatize the story, following main events 
as in the last dramatization (Chapter IX, 3). 

4. Drill on the written rhyme. See Chapter III, 4, 6, 7, 8, 
9; Chapter IV, 4; Chapter VI, 5, and Chap- [Pageeo- i 

ter VIII, 3. 3; p. 61; 4] 

5. Another word drill. Place a card containing a word 
on each child's desk, the word side turned down. The 
teacher directs, " Turn cards," following this order imme- 
diately with — "Bring me i^lay, go, come, otlier, tell, etc." 
The child having the card containing the word called by 
the teacher runs with it to her. The game is 
continued until all the cards are collected. If 

a child does not know his word, he goes at once to the 
reference rhyme containing it and finds it for himself. 

6. Picture study, (Chart, page 16 ; Primer, p. 40.) What 
did the children sing to Bluebird ? Is Bluebird singing 
to the children? Why does Simon Simj^le hold up his 
finger ? Are the other children listening to Bluebird's 
song ? What glad news does Bluebird sing to the chil- 
dren? 

See Chapter III, 5. 

7. Beading from the board. 

Tell me glad news. 

Tell me of the sprinar. 

[Page 93 ; 8] 
Tell the rain to go away. 

Tell Bluebird to come again. 



124 LEARNING TO READ 

I want glad news. 
[Pagel06;8] r, • r .i 

Bring news oi the spring. 

Tell me again, " Spring is come." 

Tell me Bluebird is come again. 

Spring brings the bluebirds. 
Bluebirds want spring to come. 
Go away, rain. 
Come, glad spring. 

Sing, Bluebird, sing the glad news. 
Spring is come, sing for joy. 

Little Bluebird is glad. 
Bluebird brings glad news. 
Little Bluebird sings. 
Bluebird sings a song of joy. 
The song tells me spring is come. 

A song of spring is glad news. 

A song of spring is a song of joy. 

Sing, little Bluebird, sing to me. 

Tell me of the spring. 

Bring me glad news. 

Bring me glad news of the spring. 

Tell me, " Spring is come." 

The little girl is glad. 

The rain is over. 

The little girl sings, " Spring is come." 

8. Dialogue. The following sentences are to be read as 
a dialogue by two children. Or all the chil- 
dren may take sides facing each other in two 



[Pages 40-41] 
[Pages 43-45] 



THE METHOD APPLIED 125 

lines. The children on one side may ask the questions in 
order and the children on the other side answer in turn. 

What? 

Who sings in the tree ? 

Little Bluebird sings in the tree. 

What is the song Bluebird sings ? 
Bluebird sings, " Spring is come." 

Who brings glad news ? 
Bluebird brings glad news. 

What is the glad news Bluebird sings ? 
Bluebird tells me, "Spring is come." 

What is the song the little girl sings ? 

The little girl sings, " Rain, rain, go away." 

What is the song the little boy sings ? 

The little boy sings, "Jump and run — away, away." 

9. Seat work. See Chapter 1, 11 ; Chapter V, 9 ; Chap- 
ter VI, 8; Chapter VIII, 7, and Chapter IX, 9. 

Reconstruct the rhyme from memory, using small cards 
in the envelopes. 

All these forms of seat work with word cards are 
good, but it is not necessary or advisable to 
give all forms with each rhyme. Such forms 
should be chosen as will tend to continuous progress in 
neatness, difficulty, and independence on the part of the 
child. 



126 LEARNING TO READ 

10. Phonics. Teach the sound of t in tell and of n in 
news. See Chapter IV, 9; Chapter V, 10, and Chapter 
VII, 10. 

The pupil should have drill on the initial consonant 
sound in five ways. («) He should have drill on the first 
[Page 23 : 3 ; analysis of the word containing the new sound, 
p. 25 ; 8] ^g shown ou phouetic cards, (h) He should be 
required to find the letter and sound in words on chart and 
board, (c) He should be able to distinguish the sound 
in words repeated to him. {d) He should be able to 
give a list of words beginning with a required sound. 
As already stated, these words need not be limited to 
words he has learned to read, (c) He should be able 
to tell the sound of the consonant instantly when he sees 
it written alone. 



CHAPTER XI 

THE PRIMER, PAGES 47-55 ; THE CHART, PAGES 18-21 

Rhyme IX 

Little squirrel, run around, 
Look for acorns on the ground. 

squirrel look around 

acorns on ground 

(Chart, p. 18 ; Primer, p. 47.) 

1. Tell the story, introducing the rhyme. 

The Tale of Squirrel Frisk 

It was autumn. The nuts were ripe. The boys had 
been busy for days gathering them. The squirrels were 
busy, too. Every one was Q-atherin^ nuts and 

J ? J o ^ & [Pages 2-4] 

putting them away for the winter. 

Did I say every one ? Then I made a mistake ; for one 
little gray squirrel named Frisk sat in the sunshine on a 
low branch and did nothing but watch the others. 

"Why are you not gathering nuts?" asked an old 
squirrel. 

"Time enough yet," answered Frisk, in such a sleepy 
voice. 

"Time enough!" cried the old squirrel. "It will be 
winter very soon now." 

127 



128 LEARNING TO READ 

*'Go away and dou't bother me. I want to sit liere in 
the sun and rest," said Frisk. 

"Rest!" repeated the old squirrel. "You will have all 
winter to rest. Now is the time to work. 

'Little squirrel, run around, 
Look for acorns on the ground.' " 

And the old squirrel, scolding and chattering, went off to 
his work. 

A blue jay flew to the branch and, cocking his wise old 
head to one side, looked at Frisk. 

"What did that old squirrel just say to you, Frisk ?" he 
asked. 

"Oh, he said, 

' Little squirrel, run around. 
Look for acorns on the ground.' " 

"Why do you not do what he says?" asked the jay. 
"Winter will soon be here. Then what will you do?" 

"Why don't you gather some nuts yourself?" asked 
Frisk. 

"I don't have to gather nuts. I just watch where you 
silly squirrels hide your acorns. Then I help myself from 
your stores. So 

' Little squirrel, run around, 
Look for acorns on the ground,' 

and remember to find some for me, too. Ha! ha! ha!" 
screeched the jay. And off he flew. 

" Well," said Frisk, " if Mr. Blue Jay thinks I'm going 



THE METHOD APPLIED 129 

to work this pleasant day gathering nuts for him to steal, 
he is much mistaken." So saying, Frisk curled himself 
up in a ball, and was soon fast asleep. 

Up blew the wind. How cold it grew ! Frisk woke 
from his nap, shivering. 

" Oo-oo-oo," blew the wind, " oo-oo-oo, oo-oo-oo-oo, win- 
ter is coming. Hurry, little squirrel, and gather food for 
the winter. This is your last chance. Oo-oo-oo-oo-oo." 

Down from his branch jumped Frisk. How he worked 
all the rest of that beautiful autumn day ! And what 
a lot of nuts he gathered ! No one had to say now — 

" Little squirrel, run around, 
Look for acorns on the ground," 

for no other squirrel, little or big, gathered as many as 
Frisk. He hid them away in such a safe place ! You 
couldn't have found them if you had searched all day. 
Even that sly old thief, the blue jay, couldn't find where 
Frisk had hidden his nuts. 

2. Teach the rhyme. See Chapter III, 2. 

3. Dramatize the story. Several children represent the 
busy little squirrels gathering nuts for winter. One child, 
curled up on a chair or bench, takes the part 

of Frisk. Other children are the old squirrel, ^^^^ 
the blue jay, and the wind. In dramatizing, follow the 
events of the story. 

4. Drill on the written rhyme. See Chapter III, 4, 6, 7, 8, 
9; Chapter IV, 4; Chapter VI, 5; Chapter 

VIII, 3, and Chapter X, 5. [Pages 15-16] 



130 



LEARNING TO READ 



5. Picture study. (Chart, page 18 ; Primer, p. 47.) 
What are the squirrels doing ? Show me lazy Frisk. 

H^^ ^^ gathered any nuts ? Why not ? Doesn't 
he know winter is coming ? What did he 
say to the people who told him to gather nuts ? Who 
almost blew him from his branch ? What did the wind 
say to Frisk ? Did Frisk gather any nuts ? Do you 
think the wind blew some acorns from the tree for Frisk ? 

6. Reading from the board. 

Little squirrel, run. 

Run around, little squirrel. 

Run on the ground. 

Run around on the ground. 

Run for acorns, little squirrel. 

Little squirrel, run around. 

Look for acorns. 

Look in the tree. 

Look on the ground. 

Look around, little squirrel. 

Look for some acorns on the ground. 

Look for other acorns on the tree. 
Look the ground over and over. 
Look in the tree again and again. 

The little squirrel is on the ground. 

The little squirrel runs around and around. 

The squirrel looks for acorns. 

Bring some acorns to the little squirrel. 

Run to the tree, little squirrel. 
Run and jump over the ground. 



[Pages 47-49] 



[Pages 7-8] 



[Pages 49-52] 



THE METHOD APPLIED 131 

Run around the tree, little squirrel. 
Run and jump around and around. 

Spring, little squirrel, spring into the tree. 
I want some acorns, little squirrel. 
Bring me some acorns. 
Jump to the ground. 
Bring the acorns to me. 

Run away, little squirrel. 
Run to the other tree. 
Come again, little squirrel. 
Come again to me. 

The little squirrel is in the tree. 
The little squirrel wants acorns. 
The squirrel is glad. 
The squirrel jumps for joy. 

The squirrel wants some acorns. 

Squirrel wants acorns for the little squirrels. 

Look around, little squirrel. 

Look for acorns for the little squirrels. 

Bring acorns to the little squirrels. 

Tell the little squirrels to look for acorns. 
Tell the squirrels to look on the ground. 
Tell the squirrels to look in the tree. 
Tell the squirrels to run to the tree. 
Tell the squirrels to jump over the ground. 

Bluebird is in the tree with the squirrel. 

Bluebird sings to the squirrel. 

Bluebird sings a glad song. 

Bluebird sings of the spring. 

" Spring is come," sings Bluebird. 



132 



LEARNING TO READ 



"Sing, sing for joy." 

Bluebird brings news of the glad spring. 

7. Drill in ending -ing. After this exercise pupils should 
be required to read sentences containing verbs ending in 
-ing without any formal drill. 



run 


running 


play 


playing 


look 


looking 


tell 


telling 


sing 


singing 


bring 


bringing 


go 


going 


jump 


jumping 


come 


coming 


spring 


springing 



8. Silent reading. See Chapter IX, 7. 

Who is playing in the tree ? 
Who is singing in the tree ? 
Who is running over the ground ? 
Who is telling spring is come ? 
Who is bringing glad news ? 
Who is looking for acorns ? 
Who is jumping into the tree? 
Who is springing to the ground ? 



[Pages 69-70] 



9. Seat work. See Chapter T, 11; Chapter V, 9; Chap- 
ter VI, 8; Chapter VITI, 7; Chapter IX, 9, 
and Chapter X, 9. 

Pupils arrange words from envelopes in columns on 
desk, following columns on board or on cards prepared by 
teacher for individual use. 

10. Phonics. Teach the sound of / in for. See Chapter 
X, 10. 



THE METHOD APPLIED 133 

Keep lists of sight words on the board arranged in 
columns according to the initial consonant, as — 

boy come rain 

blue can run 

bring 

11. Exercise in phrasing. The following phrases and short 
sentences, all of which are taken from rhymes already 
learned, are to be written on the board. Pupils are to be 
drilled in reading these expressions fluently and with nat- 
ural expression. Any tendency to pause between words 
that belong together, to read jerkily or with hesitation, 
may thus be overcome. 

Come away. 

Come and play. 

Boys and girls. 

The rain. 

The rain is over. 

Go away. 

Rain, go away. 

Sing for joy. 

With me. 

Run with me. 

Jump and run. 

Come again. 

Some other day. 

Come again some other day. 

Boys and girls want to play. 

Run to the tree. 

Little boy. 



134 LEARNING TO READ 

Run, little boy. 

A song. 

Sing a song. 

Sing a song to me. 

The glad news. 

The glad news bring. 

Kun around. 

Little squirrel, run around. 

Sing, little Bluebird. 

Look for acorns. 

Tell of the spring. 

On the ground. 

Look on the ground. 

Note: Teachers who are not to use the Primer will turn over to 
Chapter XVIII, and continue their work in accordance with direc-, 
tions given in that and the following chapters. 



CHAPTER XII 

THE PRIMER, PAGES 56-64 
Rhyme X 

Little bird, fly to the tree ; 
There a little nest I see. 

there nest see fly 

(Primer, p. 66. ) 
1. Tell the story, introducing the rhyme. 

Robin Redbreast 

Robin Redbreast was hopping about on the lawn. Very 
busy he seemed this bright spring morning. Indeed, 
every day was a busy day for Robin just 
now; for m his nest, hidden m the old tree 
near the porch, were three baby birds. Such hungry little 
fellows you never saw ! All day long they cried, " Peep, 
peep! peep, peep!" Avhich is the birds' way of saying, 
"More worms ! more worms ! " This was the reason why 
Robin Redbreast was so very busy. 

James stood at the window, watching Robin. He saw 
him take two or three little running hops, cock his head 
to one side, look at the ground with his bright eye, then 
dig his bill into the earth and begin to pull out a large 
worm. The worm did not want to come, and Robin was 

135 



136 LEARNING TO READ 

SO busy pulling and tugging that he did not see some- 
thing that was happening just back of him. 

Mrs. Gray Pussy was looking for a breakfast, also. She 
saw the nice fat robin on the lawn and said to herself, 
" He will make a fine breakfast for me. I must catch 
him." 

So Pussy crouched down close to the ground, then 
slowly, softly she began to creep, creep, creep, nearer 
and nearer to Robin Redbreast. 

Just then James looked that way and saw Pussy. 
Quickly he cried out to the robin, 

"■ Little bird, fly to the tree, 
There a little nest I see." 

But the window was closed, and Robin did not hear the 
call. He kept on pulling and pulling at the worm, and 
Pussy kept on creeping, creeping, nearer and nearer. 

Just as she was about to spring on Robin, James threw 
up the window and called as loud as he could, 

" Little bird, fly to the tree, 
There a little nest I see." 

Robin looked up ! He let go of the worm and flew 
swiftly to his nest in the old tree. There he sang and 
sang, " Cheer-up ! cheer-up ! I have lost my breakfast, but 
Pussy has lost hers, too. So, cheer-up ! cheer-up ! cheer- 
up ! " 

2. Teach the rhyme. See Chapter III, 2. 

3. Dramatize the story. One child represents Robin hop- 
ping about on the ground ; another represents Pussy 



THE METHOD APPLIED 137 

creeping softly to catch Robin; a third child [Pageii;6; 
may be James and warn Robin. Sometimes Pi3;9] 
the children like a group of children to represent Robin's 
little birds in the nest. 

4. Drill on new words used in the rhyme. This drill should 
be given both on the board and with the rp^geg ^g.^g. 
word cards. pp- 6O-6I] 

5. Picture study. (Primer, page 56.) What is Robin 
trying to do ? For whom does he want the worms ? 
Who else is looking for a breakfast ? What does she 
want for breakfast? Who sees Pussy try to 

[Pages 7-8j 

catch Robm ? What does James call to Robin ? 
Where is Robin's nest ? Will Pussy catch him ? 

6. Reading from the Primer. Read the stories following 
the rhyme, pages 57-64. This may be supple- [Pages 15-I6; 
mented with sentences on the board, as found p-60; 1-3] 
necessary. 

7. Seat work. Using small word cards, have children 
make original sentences. Tt adds interest to this exercise 
if occasionally after a child has finished making sentences 
he is allowed to read his original sentences to the class. 
Sometimes pupils ma}- exchange seats and read the sen- 
tences from their neighbors' desks. 

8. Phonics. Teach the sound of t1i in there. 

See Chapter X, 10. [Page 22; 2] 



CHAPTER XIII 

THE PRIMER, PAGES 67-88 

Rhymes XI, XII, XIII 

Little Boy Blue, 

Come blow your horn. 

blow your horn 

(Primer, p. 67.) 

The sheep are in the meadow, 
The cows are in the corn. 

sheep meadow cows corn are 

(Primer, p. 73.) 

Where is the little boy who looks after the 
sheep ? 
He is under the haycock, fast asleep, 
where after under he 

fast asleep haycock 

(Primer, p. 78.) 

In the Primer the above rhyme is divided into three 
parts. Each part is taken up separately for drill on new 
words. The whole rhyme can best be taught at once, 
however. One story is sufficient to introduce it. 

138 



THE METHOD APPLIED 139 

1. Tell the story, introducing the rhyme. 

The Story of Boy Blue 

"Dear, dear!" said Farmer Brown one morning. 
" What shall I do ? I must go to town this morning and 
there is no one I can leave to take care of my 

„ ^ [Pages 2-4] 

cows and sheep. 

Just as he finished speaking, a little boy came walking 
along the road. 

"Good morning, Farmer Brown," he said. "Do you 
want a boy to work on your farm ? " 

" Yes, indeed I do," answered the farmer. " I want a 
boy to look after my cows and sheep." 

" Oh, I can do that," said the little boy. 

" Are you sure you can ? " asked the farmer. 

" Yes, if you will tell me just what to do." 

" Well," said Farmer Brown, " I don't want the sheep 
to get into the meadow, and the cows must not be allowed 
to go into the corn." 

" I will watch them every minute. I won't let one get 
out of my sight." 

"Very well," said Farmer Brown. "What is your 
name : 

" My name is Willie, but every one calls me Boy Blue, 
because I dress in blue and because I have a blue horn." 

"Well, Boy Blue, I have to go to town. Watch the 
sheep and the cows well. If any try to run away, just 
blow your horn and they will come back." 



140 LEARNING TO READ 

" Oh, don't you worry. I know how to take care of 
the cows and sheep," said Boy Blue. 

Farmer Brown went off to town and for some time Boy 
Blue watched the cows and sheep. Toward noon the 
sheep were nibbling the grass quietly and most of the 
cows were asleep in the shade. The rest were standing 
in the brook under the tall trees. None of them had tried 
to run away. 

" These cows and sheep are so good and quiet," thought 
Boy Blue, " I need not stand here watching them. I will 
sit down in the shade of the big haycock." 

But alas and alas ! He had been sitting there only a 
short time when his head began to nod — nod — nod and 
soon he was fast asleep! 

At noon Farmer Brown got back from town and the 
first thing he saw was — the sheep eating the grass in the 
meadow ! And the second thing he saw was — the cows 
trampling down the young corn ! Then he looked for 
Boy Blue, but no Boy Blue could he see. 

" Little Boy Blue, 
Come blow your horn," 

he called. But no Boy Blue answered him. 
Again he called, 

" Little Boy Blue, 
Come blow your horn, 
The sheep are in the meadow, 
The cows are in the corn." 

But Boy Blue did not answer. 



THE METHOD APPLIED 141 

Then the farmer called to his wife, " Where is the little 
boy who looks after the sheep ? " 

And his wife answered, " He is under the haycock, fast 
asleep." 

Away to the haycock ran Farmer Brown. There in the 
shade lay Boy Blue fast asleep. The farmer shook him 
and called, 

" Little Boy Blue, 
Come blow your horn, 
The sheep are in the meadow, 
The cows are in the corn." 

Quickly Boy Blue jumped to his feet ! He blew 
the horn again and again. Away from the meadow 
scampered the sheep, and the cows ran as quickly from 
the corn. 

Boy Blue was ever so sorry. " I will never, never again 
sleep in the daytime," he said. 

And because he was so sorry. Farmer Brown forgave 
him. Never again did Boy Blue let the cows and sheep 
run away. 

2. Teach the rhyme. See Chapter III, 2. 

3. Dramatize the story. 

Characters : Little Boy Blue, Farmer Brown, 
the Farmer's Wife, some children for sheep, 
and some for cows. 

Follow the incidents in the story. 

4. Drill on new words used in the rhyme. Use the 

, , [Pages 15-16] 

board and word cards. 



142 LEARNING TO READ 

5. Picture study. (Primer, P^ge 67.) AVIio is sitting on 
the fence ? Does he look tired ? Do you think he is 
tired because he has to look after the cows and the sheep? 

What is Boy Blue asking Farmer Brown ? 
Did Farmer Brown let Boy Blue stay to take 
care of the cows and sheep ? 

(Page 73.) Where is little Boy Blue now ? Who is 
shaking him ? What does Farmer Brown say to Boy 
Blue ? 

(Page 77.) Where are the cows ? What is Boy Blue 
doing ? Do you think the cows will run from the corn ? 
See Chapter III, 5. 

6. Reading from the Primer. The stories immediately fol- 
lowing each part of the rhyme are to be used as soon as 
[Page 47; 22; ^^^ "®^ words of that part of the rhyme are 

pp. 51-53] mastered. 
The sentences immediately following the third part of 
the rhyme may be read by two pupils as a dialogue. 

7. Seat work. Cut pages from any old book or magazine, 
using good type. Let pupils underline all the words they 
know, and all that they can make out for themselves by 
sounding. 

8. Phonics. After the first part of the rhyme, teach the 
„o «.. sound of y in your: after the second part, the 

[Pages 23-25] ^ ;j > . 

sound of sh in sheep; and after the third part, 
the sound of h in he. See Chapter X, 10. 



CHAPTER XIV 

THE PRIMER, PAGES 91-103 
Rhyme XIV 

Come, little snowflakes, 
Fly round and round, 
Cover with snow 
The cold, bare ground, 
snowflakes cover bare snow cold 



1. Tell the story, introducing the rhyme. 
The Snowflakes 



(Primer, p. 91.) 



Many little soft white snowflakes lived in a big fleecy 
cloud in Sky land. The Frost King was their ^^ 

father. 

One day the Frost King looked down on the earth. 
" How cold and bare the earth looks to-day ! I fear 
that the little seeds hidden away in the ground will freeze 
unless I do something to help them." 

Then he turned to the little snowflakes and called in his 
loud, cheery voice, 

" Come, little snowflakes, 
Fly round and round. 
Cover with snow 
The cold, bare ground." 
143 



144 LEARNING TO READ 

But the snowflakes did not answer him. Neither did 
they move from their cloud home. 

" They could not have heard me," said the Frost King, 
" I must call again." So again he called, this time 
louder than before, 

" Come, little snowflakes, 
Fly round and round, 
Cover with snow 
The cold, bare ground." 

But the snowflakes answered not a word, nor did they 
move. 

"Why, what can be the matter?" thought the Frost 
King. " My children, did you not hear me call you ? " he 
cried. 

" Yes, father, we heard you, but we do not want to 
leave our soft, fleecy bed in Skyland to go to the cold, 
hard ground." 

" Why, for shame, children ! Do you want the little 
seeds to die ? Don't you want the ground covered with 
snow for Christmas ? It is only two days before 
Christmas eve, and if the ground is not well covered with 
snow, how can Santa Claus visit the earth children? So — 

'■Come, little snowflakes. 
Fly round and round. 
Cover with snow 
The cold, bare ground.'" 

Slowly the little snowflakes slid from the great fleecy 



THE METHOD APPLIED 145 

cloud. Softly one by one they fell to the cold earth, far, 
far below them. 

The little earth children looked up and saw the flakes. 
How glad they were ! They clapped their hands and 
shouted, 

" Come, little snowflakes, 
Fly round and round, 
Cover with snow 
The cold, bare ground." 

2. Teach the rhyme. See Chapter III, 2. 

3. This story may be dramatized, but better results will be 
obtained by waiting until after the next story has been 
told and the next rhyme memorized. See Chapter XV, 3. 

4. Drill on new words used in the rhyme. 

5. Picture study. (Primer, page 91.) What kind of 
fairies are these ? How do you know they are snowflake 
fairies ? Where did the snowflakes live ? Who called to 
them? What did their father call? Did the 
snowflakes like to leave their nice soft beds in 
skyland ? Are some still in bed ? Do the ones who have 
started for the earth seem glad to go ? Why are they 
looking back at their beds in cloudland ? 

6. Reading from the Primer. Pages 91-103. 

7. Review exercises. Two review exercises follow this 
rhyme, the dialogue on pages 98-99, and the lines from 
rhymes already taught on pages 102-103. 

In all dialogue work insist on good expression. The 



146 LEARNING TO READ 

[Page 52; 6- children should not read the dialogue merely; 
pp. 53-55] they should talk it, act it. It is not necessary 
that two children only take part. Eighteen children, nine 
boys and nine girls, may read the dialogue in this lesson. 
As it destroys the spirit and interest in the exercise to 
have the teacher call the name of each child who is to 
read, or even to indicate the reader by saying " next," 
arrange the children in tw^o lines facing each other, the 
boys in one line, the girls in the other. Have it under- 
stood that the first boy reads the first sentence for " Boy," 
the first girl reads the first sentence for " Girl," the second 
boy the second sentence for " Boy," the second girl the 
second sentence for " Girl," and so on, back and forth 
down the lines. The boy who asks the question looks at 
the girl who is to answer, and in answering the girl looks 
at the boy. In short, the children should realize that they 
are talking to each other, not reading groups of words 
from a book. 

The other exercise, pages 102-103, is given chiefly for 
practice in correct phrasing. 

8. Seat work. Children group words on small cards ac- 

cording to the initial consonant. Use small cards 
already used for other kinds of seat work, as de- 
scribed in Chapter III, 11, and in following chapters. Fol- 
low out constantly now the suggestions in Chapter IX, 9. 

9. Phonics. Drill on endings -s, -ing, -er, -eel; Primer, 
p. 100. See Chapter X, 10. 



CHAPTER XV 

THE PRIMER, PAGES 104r-108 
Rhyme XV 

Now the wind begins to blow, 
Faster, faster comes the snow. 

now wind begins 

(Primer, p. 104.) 

1. Tell the story, introducing the rhyme. This story is really 
a continuation of the story for Rhyme XIV. 
Before telling this, review the last story. 

The Wind and the Snowflakes 

You remember the snowflakes did not want to leave the 
great fleecy cloud and go down to the cold, bare earth. 
So, although they had to go when the Frost King ordered 
it, they went very slowly — just as slowly as boys and girls 
sometimes do things they would rather not do. 

The Frost King saw how slowly the flakes were flying 
to earth, and he laughed in his cheery way and said, "Ho! 
Ho ! Ho ! I'll send some one to hurry up those lazy snow- 
flakes." 

So he called, " Come here, North Wind. See those lazy 
snowflakes. Blow with all your might and send them 
flying swiftly to the earth." 

147 



148 LEARNING TO READ 

"Oo-oo-oo! Oo-00-oo-oo ! Oo-oo-oo-oo-oo ! " blew the 
cold North Wind, right among the snowflakes. My, how 
they flew ! Round and round, faster and faster ! There 
was no more hanging back, I can tell you. 

How the jolly old Frost King laughed while he watched 
them. He sang softly to himself, 

" Now the wind begins to blow, 
Faster, faster comes the snow." 

The earth children looked up and saw the snowflakes 
hurrying and scurrying to earth, and they, too, sang as 
they tried to catch the flakes in their little hands, 

" Now the wind begins to blow, 
Faster, faster comes the snow." 

Soon the earth was covered with a blanket of soft, 
white snow. Still the wind blew, and still the snowflakes 
flew to the earth until the drifts were many and deep and 
the night came on. Then the children ran to their homes 
singing joyously, 

" Now the wind begins to blow, 
Faster, faster comes the snow." 

For well the children knew what fun they would have in 
the morning, playing in the snow. 

2. Teach the rhyme. See Chapter III, 2. 

3. Dramatize the story. A part of the schoolroom is Sky- 
land. A number of children — as many as are desired — 

are snowflakes. One child may be the Frost 
King, and another North Wind. When the 



THE METHOD APPLIED 149 

snowflakes first leave Skyland, they should move very 
slowly, turning round and round; when the wind begins 
to blow, they turn swiftly and more swiftly until they 
sink softly to the floor. If the teacher wishes, the chil- 
dren at their desks may be the earth children; but it 
should be kept in mind that an audience is as necessary 
to the success of a dramatized story in the schoolroom as 
are the actors. 

4. Drill on new words used in the rhyme. Use the board and 
word cards. 

5. Picture study. (Primer, page 104.) Are these little 
snowflakes hurrying to the earth ? Who is driving them ? 
Who asked the wind to blow and drive the snowflakes 
to earth ? Why ? What did the children sing when 
they saw the snowflakes flying to the earth ? 

See Chapter III, 5. 

6. Reading from the Primer. Pages 104-108. See Chapter 
I, Sec. 12, 1, 2, 12-15. 

7. Seat work. It should be understood that the busy work 
already suggested in preceding chapters of this Manual 
is to be used again and again, adapted to the 

new work as it is taught. Actual reading: *^^^ 
should form an increasing part of the seat work. See 
Chapter IX, 9. 



CHAPTER XVT 

THE PRIMER, PAGES 111-123 
Rhyme XVI 

Tell me, what does Bluebird say, 
When he sings at peep of day ? 

does say when at peep 

(Primer, p. 111.) 
1. Tell the story, introducing the rhyme. 

The Bluebird's Song 

Jack Barton should have been a very happy little boy. 
He had a good home and a kind mother and father who 
did everything they could to make him happy. 
*^* ' But still Jack was always grumbling. He 
hated to go to bed at night ; he hated to get up in the 
morning ; he hated to go to school ; he hated work of 
all kinds. 

Tom Nelson was a very poor boy. He had no home, no 
parents. He worked for the neighbors. Every morning 
he was up with the birds. Then how busy he was till 
school time ! In winter he shoveled paths and took care 
of furnaces ; in summer he mowed lawns and ran errands. 
He did anything he could find to do, for he had to make 
his own living. Still Tom was always happy. No one 

160 



THE METHOD APPLIED 151 

ever saw him without a smile on his face. Usually he was 
whistling or singing. People all said that one glimpse of 
Tom's bright face made them feel glad. 

One morning as Jack was walking slowly to school, 
Tom overtook him. 

"Hullo, Jack," cried Tom, cheerily. "What's the mat- 
ter ? You don't look very happy." 

"Well, I'm not happy," said Jack, crossly. "I hate to 
go to school." Then as he saw Tom's bright face he said, 
"Say, Tom, what makes you so happy all the time ?" 

"Oh, something that Bluebird told me one morning very 
early." 

"Something that Bluebird told you! What was it? 
Tell me." 

"No, you must find out for yourself," answered Tom. 
"Come, hurry, or we shall be late." 

Away ran Tom, but Jack only walked, and so slowly 
that he was late for school. 

All that day in school Jack kept thinking, "I wonder 
what Bluebird told Tom that makes him so happy. I 
must find out. I shall ask the wood folk; they must 
know." 

The next day was Saturday, and as soon as Jack had 
finished his breakfast he ran into the woods. He hadn't 
gone far when he met a squirrel. 

"Squirrel, Squirrel," he called, 

" Tell me, what does Bluebird say, 
When he sings at peep of day ? " 



152 LEARNING TO READ 

"I'm not the one to ask," said the squirrel, and 
before Jack could say another word, he scampered 
away. 

Next, Jack met a rabbit. "Good-morning, Rabbit," 
he said, 

" Tell me, what does Bluebird say, 
When he sings at peep of day ? " 

"Oh, don't ask me," said the rabbit, and away he 
hopped. 

"Dear me, I wish they wouldn't be in such a hurry. 
They might at least tell me whom to ask," said Jack. 

"What do you want to ask ?" said a small voice at his 
feet. " I'm never in a hurry." 

Jack looked down and saw a little snail creeping along. 
So he said, 

"Tell me, what does Bluebird say, 
When he sings at peep of day ? " 

"I'm surely not the one you should ask," said the 
snail. 

" Whom shall I ask then?" said Jack. 

" Why, ask Bluebird, of course," answered the snail. 
" But you must ask him very early in the morning, at 
the peep of day." 

" Oh, dear," said Jack, " I can never get up so early as 
that. Yet I do so want to know what Bluebird told Tom 
that makes him so happy." 

" Well, go to bed early to-night," said the snail. " Then 



THE METHOD APPLIED 153 

you will feel like rising early in the morning. That's what 
we wood folk do." 

" Well, I will try it," said Jack; and he walked slowly 
toward his home. 

That night at eight o'clock, Jack put away his book 
and saying, " Good-night, Mother, good-night, Father," 
went upstairs and straight to bed. Soon he was fast 
asleep and dreaming that a hundred bluebirds were 
perched on the foot of his bed singing to him. 

2. Teach the rhyme. See Chapter III, 2. 

3. Dramatize the story. Dramatize only that 

part of the story which tells of Jack's visit ^^^ 
to the wood ^olk. 

4. Drill on new words. Use board and word cards. See 
Chapter I, Sec. 6. 

5. Picture study. (Primer, page 111.) What is the 
little boy's name? Why has he come to the woods? 
Who was the first animal he met in the woods ? 

What is the rabbit carrying ? What is he going ^^^^^^ '^'^'^ 
to do with it ? What did Jack ask the rabbit ? Did the 
rabbit tell him what he wanted to know ? What other 
animals did Jack meet ? Did any one tell him what Blue- 
bird sang at peep of day ? 

6. Reading from the Primer. Pages 111-123. See Chap- 
ter I, Sec. 13, 1-5. 

7. Seat work. See Chapter XV, 7. 

8. Phonics. Teach the sound of ivh in when. See Chap- 
ter X, 10. 



154 LEARNING TO READ 

Constantly review and apply sounds already taught. 
In teaching new words, have children give the sound of 
the initial consonant, if it is one they know. 

The following game often proves very helpful. The 
teacher, standing before the board with chalk in hand, 
says, " I'm thinking of a word that begins with h " (or 
any other consonant). 

Pupils try to guess the word. " Is it hoy ? " . 

Teacher : "No, it is not hoy; but hoy does begin with h, 
so I will write it on the board." 

The game goes on till the right word is guessed. When 
through, lists of words will have been written on the board 
something as follows — 

b 8 

boy sing 

bird see 

blue spring 

bring song 

If a pupil should guess a wrong word, as ^:>?«?/, he 
should be corrected at once. " PIm/ does not 

[Page 24 ; 5] . , . ^ 

begin with h. With what sound does it 
begin ? " 

All drills, whether merely mechanical or in the form 
of games, should be brief, carried on with enthusiasm, and 
without loss of time. 



CHAPTER XVII 

THE PRIMER, PAGES 124-138 

Rhyme XVII 

Bluebird sings, " Wake up, my boy, 
Morning is come, sing, sing for joy." 

morning wake up my 

(Primer, p. 124.) 

1. Tell the story, introducing the rhyme. This rhyme is 
but a continuation of rhyme XVI, and the 

'^ ' [Pages 2-4] 

story a continuation of the last story. Before 
telling this story, review the last one. 

What Bluebird sang to Jack 

It was a beautiful spring morning when Jack Barton 
awoke from a long, sound sleep. It was still very early. 
The sun was just peeping into Jack's window. The birds 
were singing their morning songs. Jack rubbed his eyes 
sleepily. Suddenly he sat straight up in bed and listened 
with all his might. 

"Was that Bluebird?" he said to himself. 

Yes, it was a bluebird sitting in the cherry tree just out- 
side Jack's window. He was singing and singing till you 
would think his little throat could not hold so much music. 

Jack listened quietly, but with a smiling face, till Blue- 

155 



156 LEARNING TO READ 

bird flew away. Then he said, " I know what Bhiebird 
told Tom. He told me, too. Bluebird sings, 

' Wake up, my boy. 
Morning is come, sing, sing for joy.' 

I know now why Tom sings and who told him to sing. 
Bluebird has taught me to sing and be happy, also. I 
shall try never to grumble again." 

How glad his father and mother were to see Jack so 
early at the breakfast table with a smiling face. 

" Well, Jack," said Father, " what makes you so happy 
this morning ?" 

" Bluebird told me something this morning that made 
me so glad. I shall listen to him every morning and be 
glad and happy every day." 

" That is good news," said Mother. " But 

' Tell me, what does bluebird say. 
When lie sings at peep of day ? ' " 

" Bluebird sings, 

' Wake up, my boy, 
Morning is come, sing, sing for joy,' " 

answered Jack. 

And ever after there were two happy, bright-faced boys 
in town, and their names were Tom and Jack. 

2. Teach the rhyme. See Chapter HI, 2. 

3. Dramatize the rhyme. Very little action is called for 
here. It will be sufficient to have one child take the part 
of mother and ask. 



THE METHOD APPLIED 157 

" Tell me, what does Bluebird say, 
When he sings at peep of day ? " 

Another child may be Jack and answer, 
" Bluebird sings, 

' Wake up, my boy, 
INIorning is come, sing, sing for joy.' " 

4. Drill on new words. 

5. Picture study. (Primer, page 124.) Why did Jack 
wake so early ? Why did he leave his window open ? 
Did Bluebird sing for Jack ? Where is he singing ? 
What does he sing ? Does his song make Jack happy ? 
See Chapter III, 5. 

6. Reading from the Primer. Pages 124-138. 

The dialogue beginning on page 132 may be read as 
suggested for a similar exercise under rhyme XIV. That 
is, some children may represent Squirrel and [pages 39 ; 2 ; 
others Bluebird. Be sure that the children get pp- 40-44j 
the connected thought of the whole exercise. 

7. Phonics. Direct pupils' attention to the similarity in 

the endings of certain words, as — 

pi ay me s ing;' 

'- -^ . ^ [Pages 19-21] 

w ay tr ee spr ing 

d ay he br ingf 

-^ ^ [Pages 26-27] 

s ay s ee 

A rapid review of the rhymes will form the best intro- 
duction to this study of sounds. For this purpose the 
rhymes may he taken up something as follows, using the 
last one for illustration. 



158 LEARNING TO READ 

Tell me, what does Bluebird say, 
When he sings at peep of day ? 

Bluebird sings, " Wake up, my boy, 
Morning is come, sing, sing for joy." 

What word sounds something like say ? The answer — 
day. With what sound does say begin ? day ? With 
what sound do both words end ? Pronounce distinctly, 
day, say. What word sounds like hoy ^ With what 
sound does hoy begin ? joy f With what sound do both 
words end ? Pronounce distinctly, hoy, joy. 



CHAPTER XVIII 

THE FIRST READER, PAGES 3-5 ; THE CHART, PAGES 

22-24 

Rhyme XVIII 

Fly, little birds, to the tall tree, 

Fly to your nest and little birds three. 

fly tall your nest three 

(Chart, p. 22 ; First Reader, p. 3.) 

Classes that use and complete the Primer before taking 
lip the First Reader will need very little help in reading 
the first pages of the First Reader, as most of 
the words are already familiar. Nearly all the 
consonant sounds have been thoroughly learned. The 
various drills and seat work have developed such inde- 
pendence as will enable the pupils to master the new 
work rapidly and with ease. 

Pupils who have not read the Primer, but who go di- 
rectly from the Chart into the First Reader, will advance 
more slowly at first. They have not the vocabulary, not 
the same amount of training in independent work, and not 
the practice in reading, which those have had who work 
through the Primer. They will probably need to spend 
yet considerable time with the various drills and seat work 
which continue to be outlined. Every teacher must be 

159 



160 LEARNING TO READ 

her own judge, however, of the extent to which her pupils 
need the training afforded by the various exercises here 
suggested. Every one of these exercises is designed to 
serve a definite purpose. When that purpose is accom- 
phshed, the exercise should not be continued. 

The last pages of the Chart overlap the first pages of 
the First Reader. The last two rhymes of the Chart are 
identical with the first two rhymes of the Reader. The 
stories following each of these rhymes are similar in Chart 
and Reader, the Chart stories being somewdiat fuller than 
the Reader stories. This overlapping makes the transition 
from Chart to Reader easy, even for those who now take 
up their first book. Rhymes and stories should be read 
first from the Chart, then from the book. 

1. Tell the story, introducing the rhyme. This story is very 
similar to the story introducing; a previous 

[Pages 2-4] . . '^ , . 

similar rhyme, rhyme X in the Primer. 

Robin's Escape 

One bright morning in spring, James stood at the win- 
dow looking; out at two robins. The birds were looking; 
for worms, and very hard they had to work, too. For up 
in the tall tree near the porch was a little nest, and in the 
nest three baby birds. What hungry little robins they 
were ! They could only say, " Peep ! peep! " which means, 
"More! more!" but they said that from morning till 
night. So the father and mother robins were kept busy, 



THE METHOD APPLIED 161 

I can tell you, looking for more, more, and more worms 
to feed their little ones. 

This morning they were especially busy, for, you see, 
the babies were one day older, and so one day hungrier 
than they had been yesterday ; so, of course, they wanted 
more food. 

Father Robin was pulling a big fat worm from the 
ground, and Mother Robin was busy looking for another, 
with her head cocked to one side, so that neither saw nor 
heard pussy as she came creeping over the grass. Even 
James was so interested watching the robins that he did 
not see her either. 

Softly pussy crept over the grass. Nearer and nearer 
and nearer to the little birds she crept. Then she crouched 
down, just ready to spring, when James saw her. Quickly 
he knocked on the window and called, 

"Fly, little birds, to the tall tree, 
Fly to your nest and little birds three." 

Off flew the two robins to their nest. How disappointed 
pussy looked ! She looked at James as much as to say, 
" I would have caught at least one of these robins for my 
breakfast if you had not called, 

' Fly, little birds, to the tall tree. 
Fly to your nest and little birds three.' " 

But the father robin flev/ to the tree top and, looking 
down at pussy, sang as loud as he could, " Cheer-up ! 
Cheer-up ! Cheer-up ! " 



162 LEARNING TO READ 

2. Teach the rhyme. See Chapter III, 2. 

3. Dramatize the story. See Chapter XII, 3. 

4. Drill on new words used in the rhyme. 

5. Picture study. (First Reader, page 3.) What is 
the little girl saying to the birds ? (Use rhyme for the 
answer.) Where is the tall tree ? Call attention to tall 
tree iu background, note fence, evergreen tree, and hill 

back of tall tree. Can you see the nest in the 

[Pages 7-8] *^ 

tall tree ? Why not ? Turn to picture on 
page 5. Here we see the tall tree nearer to us. Is it the 
same tall tree we saw on page 3 ? How do you know ? 
Note again fence, evergreen tree, and hill back of tall 
tree — also the general shape of the tall tree. Now can 
you see the nest ? See what the parents are doing ? 

6. Reading from Chart and First Reader. Chart, pages 22- 
24 ; First Reader, pages 3-5. 

7. Seat work. See Chapter XII, 7. 

8. Phonics. Pupils who have worked through the Primer 
have now had all the consonants and their sounds that are 

to be learned by special drill, except ch, k, qii, 
and V. Those who have reached this point with- 
out the use of the Primer have still to learn, in addition to 
the preceding, li, iv, y, sh, th, and tvh. 

The consonants still remaining to be learned should be 
taken up in connection with the first words in which they 
occur as initial consonants, whether these words are met 
in the regular reading or in the word series. (See Chapter 
XXIII.) 



THE METHOD APPLIED 163 

The first series contains words having h, w, y, sh, and 
th as initial consonants ; the second series has a word be- 
ginning with ivh ; the fourth series, a word beginning with 
V ; and the eleventh series, words beginning with ch, k, and 
qu. Words beginning with these initial consonants are also 
used in the text of the First Reader at the time or soon after 
the above series are taken up. 

The drill with the consonant cards and other forms of 
drill already suggested (see Chapter X, 10) should be kept 
up until pupils recognize accurately and instantaneously 
the sound of any consonant, no matter where it is seen. 
Pupils should become accustomed, by constant practice, to 
applying their knowledge of consonant sounds in their 
efforts to master new words. 

Work with the word series will begin when page 13, of 
the First Reader, is reached. Preparation for this work 
should be made by taking up or continuing the exercise 
suggested in Chapter XVII, 7. 



CHAPTER XIX 

THE FIRST READER, PAGES 6-10; THE CHART, 
PAGES 25-27 

Rhyme XIX 

Fly, little birds, 

To the place you love best, 

To the tall tree 

And your dear little nest. 

place dear best love you 

(Chart, p. 25; First Reader, p. 6.) 

1. Tell the story, introducing the rhyme. 

The Captured Robins 

It was evening. The squirrels had gone to their beds. 

The birds had stopped chattering in the trees. All was 

quiet but for some peeping; that came from the 

[Pages 2-4J . . x i o 

robins' nest in the tall tree by the porch. 

" Peep ! peep ! peep ! Peep ! peep ! peep ! " 

You never heard such a peeping in all your life ! 

" Just listen to those little birds," said James. " I 
think they are going to stay awake all night." 

" What can be the matter with them ? " asked Mother. 
" It is surely time all little birds and boys were asleep." 

" I did not hear Father Robin sing his good night song," 

164 



THE METHOD APPLIED 165 

said James. " Did your father forget to sing you to sleep, 
little birds ?" he asked, looking up into the tree. 

" Peep ! peep ! Peep ! peep ! " answered the little birds. 

" There must be something the matter with them," said 
Mother. " I never knew them to act so before." 

Just then a man, carrying a large cage, walked up to 
the porch. 

" Want to buy two fine birds?" he asked. 

"What kind of birds?" asked Mother. 

"Robins." 

"Where did 3'ou get them?" said Mother. 

" I caught them in a net this morning," was the 
answer. 

" You wicked, wicked man," said Mother. " Don't you 
know you can be punished for catching robins or any song 
birds ? Do you want to be arrested ? I think I shall send 
for a policeman." 

This frightened the man, and he dropped the cage on 
the floor of the porch and ran away as fast as he could go. 

Mother lifted the cage and said to James, " Come, my 
boy, open the door of this cage and set the little prisoners 
free. They want to go home to their nests, I know." 

James opened the door and sang, 

" Fly, little birds, 
To the place you love best, 
To the tall tree 
And your dear little nest." 

Out came the frightened little birds and flew to the 



166 LEARNING TO READ 

porch railing. There they hopped about, looking around 
them. Then James sang once more, 

." Fly, Uttle birds, 

To the place you love best, 

To the tall tree 

And your dear little nest." 

As he sang the birds listened to the little birds above 
them calling "Peep! peep! peep!" 

With soft little cries, they flew straight to the nest in 
the tree top. 

What a chattering ! What a peeping in that nest — first 
the little birds, then the old birds, and then the babies 
again ! 

" The little birds are telling their mother and father 
how they have missed them ; how afraid they were alone 
in the dark ; and how glad they are to see them home 
again," said James. 

"Yes," answered Mother, "and the father and mother 
birds are telling their babies how^ glad they are to see them 
again. Come, James, it is time my little boy was in bed, 
too." 

2. Teach the rhyme. See Chapter III, 2. 

3. Drill on new words. See Chapter I, Sec. 6. 

4. Picture study. (First Reader, page C.) What are 
the children doing ? Where are they having their party? 

What are the little birds looking for? Will the 

children give them some crumbs ? Then what 

will they say to the little birds ? (Answer in words of 



THE METHOD APPLIED 167 

rhyme.) Will the little birds carry the crumbs to the 
nest ? What will they do with them ? (Pages 7 and 8.) 
What is the little boy saying to the birds? (Rhyme.) 
(Page 9.) What are the. birds doing? What have they 
found to eat? What have two of them brought in which 
to carry home the dinner? To whom will they carry it? 
The picture helps the pupil to get new words, as that on 
page 9. What are the birds doing ? They are flying. 
Tliey is a hard word to teach as a mere sight word, but 
when tliey means the four little birds in the picture, it is 
soon learned. Are smdjlying, having been used naturally 
by the child in a sentence, are easily grasped. 

5. Reading from Chart and First Reader. Chart, pages 
25-27; First Reader, pages 6-10. See Chapter I, Sec. 12, 
11-15. 

6. Seat work. See Chapter XIII, 7 ; also Chapter II, 
Sec. 7. 



CHAPTER XX 

THE FIRST READER, PAGES 11-14 

Rhyme XX 

Robin, Robin Redbreast, 
Singing on the bough, 
Come and get 3^our breakfast, 
I will feed you now. 

bough Robin breakfast will 

get Redbreast feed 

(First Reader, p. 11.) 

1. Tell the story, introducing the rhyme. 

Robin Redbreast's Breakfast 

One morning Robin Redbreast flew from his nest to 

look for some breakfast for himself and his little birds. 

He looked all over the garden and all over 

the field, but either Robin had bad luck that 

morning, or the worms had good luck, for not a single 

worm could he find. 

Now such luck as Robin had would be enough to make 
some people fuss and others cry, but Robin only flew to 
the tip-top bough of the tall tree and sang and sang, 
" Cheer-up, cheer-up ! Cheer-up, cheer-up ! Cheer-up, 
cheer-up ! " 

168 



THE METHOD APPLIED 109 

Gray Greedy Pussy heard Robin and came creeping 
under the tree. In her mouth she carried a little piece 
of bread. Looking up at Robin, she said in her softest 

voice, 

" Robin, Robin Redbreast, 
Singing on the bough. 
Come and get your breakfast, 
I will feed you now." 

But Robin knew what Pussy wanted, so he said, " No, 
no. Gray Greedy Pussy, no, no. I saw you kill a little 
mouse 3^esterday, but you shall not kill me." 

Then Gray Greedy Pussy crept away. 

Next, Mr. Sly Fox heard Robin's song and came sneak- 
ing under the tree. He held up a little piece of meat that 
he had stolen and said, 

" Robin, Robin Redbreast, 
Singing on the bough. 
Come and get your breakfast, 
I will feed you now." 

But Robin said, " No, no, Mr. Sly Fox, I saw you kill a 
little chicken yesterday, but you shall not get me." 

And Mr. Sly Fox had to trot off to the woods without 
any robin for breakfast. 

Soon little Mary heard Robin singing. Quickly she 
filled a bowl with crumbs and ran to the tall tree. 
Holding up her bowl she said, 

" Robin, Robin Redbreast, 
Singing on the bough. 



170 LEARNING TO READ 

Come and get your breakfast, 
I will feed you now." 

Then she placed the bowl under the tree and ran back to 
the house. Robin sang, " Thank 3'ou ! Thank you ! " 
until Mary was out of sight ; then down he flew and 
found all the breakfast he and his babies could eat. 

2. Teach the rhyme. 

3. Dramatize the story. 

Characters : Robin, Gray Greedy Pussy, Mr. Sly Fox, 
and Mary. A chair may represent the tall 

[Pages 10-1 3] "^ / ^ 

tree. Follow the events in the story. 

4. Drill on new words. 

5. Picture study. (First Reader, page 11.) Where is 
Robin? What is he singing? What is the little girl's 
name? What is she saying? (Rhyme.) What is in the 
bowl ? 

6. Reading from the First Reader. Pages 11-14. See Chap- 
ter I, Sec. 13, 1-5. 

7. Phonics. Series 1, on the Phonic Chart. See Chap- 
ter XXIII ; Chapter I, Sec. 7, 2-4, 8-13, and Sec. 9, 1-7. 



CHAPTER XXI 

THE FIRST READER, PAGE 15 TO THE END 

1. Teaching the rhymes. The rhymes on pages 15, 17, 
25, 28, 33, 37, 45, and 51 are to be committed to 
memory as they are reached and used for refer- 

, . . [Pages 4-7] 

ence in reading the stories. Usually no story 
by the teacher will be needed to introduce these rhymes; 
after the experience they have already had, children will 
memorize them quickly. 

2. Dramatizing. The dramatizing should be continued 
in connection with the rhymes and reading; 

*^ ^ [Pages 8-13] 

lessons. Only those stories and rhymes well 
adapted to this purpose should be dramatized 
The rhyme on page 28 — 

" Come, little leaves," said the wind one day, 
" Come over the meadows with me and play," 

with the accompanying picture, suggests a very pretty 
little play. 

The pupils should study the picture — note how lightly 
the Wind skims over the ground, how he beckons with his 
finger, the pipes upon which he blows; let them note also 
the leaves, whirling and dancing about him, how glad 
they seem. 

171 



172 LEARNING TO READ 

The child who personates Wind may carry pipes made 
of two new lead pencils. He flits through the aisles, 
beckoning to different children and blowing on his pipes, 
while the class recites the rhyme. The children thus 
called rise from their seats and follow the Wind, whirling 
as they go. The children at the seats, or the teacher, 
may continue the rhyme, 

" Dancing and whirling, the little leaves went, 
Winter had called them and they were content ; 
Soon fast asleep in their earthy beds, 
The snow laid a coverlet over their heads." 

As the last two lines are recited the children who are 
leaves drop softly to the floor and another child — the 
snow — goes to each one and makes believe cover him 
with snowflakes. 

The rhyme on page 33 is also very easily dramatized. 
Several children, the birds, are flying around. The wind 
flies over to them and after blowing on his pipes, 
" Oo-oo-oo," to attract their attention, points to them 

and says, 

" Come, little birds, 
Stop your play. 
Snow is coming down. 
You must hide away." 

As soon as the little birds hear this, they fly at once far 
away to the warm southland — their desks. 

The poem on page 101, " The Little Plant," may be 
dramatized as follows : A child — the little plant — is 



THE METHOD APPLIED 173 

curled up on the floor " fast asleep." Another child — 
the sunshme — touches the little plant gently and says, 
" Wake ! and creep to the light." Then several children 
— the raindrops — gather around her and touch her softly, 
softly — the patter of the rain — and say, " Wake ! wake ! 
wake ! " The little plant stirs, opens her eyes, stretches, 
sits up, then stands erect, and says, " How wonderful the 
outside world is !" 

The selection on pages 103-104 should be read as a 
dialogue by two children. One asks the question and the 
other — a butterfly — answers. 

The poem, " The Dandelion," on page 118, is to be read 
in the same way. If the teacher wish, she may have four 
children read it as follows : — 

First Child 

dandelion, yellow as gold, 
What do you do all day ? 

Dandelion 

1 just wait here in the tall green grass 
Till tlie children come to play. 

Second Child 

dandelion, yellow as gold, 
What do you do all night ? 

Dandelion 

1 wait and wait till tlie cool dews fall 
And my hair grows long and white. 



174 LEARNING TO READ 

Third Chitd 
And what do you do when your hair is white 
And the children come to play ? 

Dandelion 
They take me up in their dimpled hands 
And blow my hair away. 

The children should also dramatize some of the stories 
they read from the book. This work should be largely 
the children's own efforts. The work of the teacher is 
simply to suggest or guide the children. 

The story on page 70 — " Rose, Daisy, and Lily " — is an 
easy one with which to begin. Three children represent- 
ing Rose, Daisy, and Lily stand in front of the room. 
The children at their seats are the other flowers growing 
all around them. Rose, Daisy, and Lily carry on the con- 
versation much as it is given in the story. 

"The Star," page 74, may be dramatized as follows: 
A table, or the teacher's desk, may represent the bank of 
clouds over which little star looks down on the flowers — ■ 
several children sitting on the floor. A child for the star 
and another for Mother Moon carry on the conversation 
of the story. As little star says, " I will, I will. Good-by, 
good-by," she quietly joins the flowers in the meadow. 

'' The Dandelion's Friends," on page 77, is a continua- 
tion of the star story and may be dramatized with it. 

"The Caterpillar," page 114, is simply dramatized by, 
two children — the Caterpillar and the Lily — ^ following 
the incidents and using the conversation of the story. 



THE METHOD APPLIED 175 

3. Picture study. Every picture is in perfect harmony 
with the story or incident which it ilhistrates. 

. [Pages 7-8] 

Every picture adds thought and interest to the 

text, and should be studied carefully. See suggestions 

for picture studies in previous chapters. 

4. Phonics. Pupils must be made to depend more and 
more upon their growing knowledge of phonics [Pages 16-37; 
to help them in the mastery of new words, pp- ^2-68] 
As their dependence on phonics increases, their depend- 
ence on sight words learned in rhymes diminishes. 
Even while the rhymes continue in use, pupils should be 
applying such knowledge of phonics as they have to the 
learning of new words. 

The study of the word series from the Phonic Chart, 
begun in the last chapter (see Chapter XX, 7), will be 
kept up constantly. The order of taking up the series 
is indicated in Chapter XXIII. 

The vocabulary, arranged alphabetically at the end of 
the First Reader, may profitably be used for drill in the 
sounds of certain combinations of consonants which occur 
frequently. Looking under h in that vocabulary, we find 
six words beginning with hi, nine beginning with hr; 
under c, there are nine beginning with cl, and seven be- 
ginning with cr; under d, there are five beginning with 
dr, and so on. The drill should consist in a careful and 
distinct pronunciation of these words, the child's atten- 
tion being directed to the combination of initial conso- 
nants as he pronounces them. Practice should then be 



176 LEARNING TO READ 

given in pronouncing other words containing the same 
combinations of consonants. Such words may be both 
suppUed by the teacher and found by the pupil in his 
read i no; and in tlie wo id series. 

5. Reading. Let the teacher not forget for a moment 

that readinor is thinking; under direction : that 

[Pages 38-56] ° ? • . n w 

every story or poem is a series ot tiioughts 
growing into one harmonious whole ; that reading the 
story or poem consists primarily in thinking those 
thoughts, incidentally in giving them appropriate expres- 
sion, using the words of the printed page. 

The stories read should be talked over and retold, 
briefly or at length, by the children. 

6. Seat work. Children learn to read by reading — to 
read independently by reading independently. The best 
seat work in reading is silent reading at the desks. For 
this purpose pupils should have access to several easy and 
interesting books. Every first-grade room should be pro- 
vided with one copy each of a large number of different 

Primers and First Readers, or books of similar 
grade, in addition to those to be read in class. 
These books are to be read silently and independently by 
the children at their seats. But they should be given op- 
portunity, as often as possible, to read aloud to the rest 
of the class from the books thus read at the seats. They 
should also be trained to tell stories they have read. 



CHAPTER XXII 

THE SECOND AND THIRD READERS 

1. Phonics. With the completion of the First Reader 
the first fifty-seven series of words have been studied on 
the Phonic Chart. The order in which the remaining 
series may best be taken up is indicated in Chapter 
XXIII. These series are not to be taken up . once, how- 
ever, and then dropped. They must be constantly re- 
viewed, even from the beginning of the Chart. It is often 
well to review in succession several series in which occur 
the same vowel and vowel sound, as series, 35, 67, 149, 
150, 157 ; then the pupils' grasp of that vowel in con- 
stantly changing consonant combinations may be tested 
with series 175. The index on the first page of the Chart 
enables the teacher to find at once all the series based on 
the same vowel sound, also the corresponding test series. 

The study of these phonetic series constitutes the foun- 
dation work which goes along with the reading of the 
Second and Third Readers, the text of which is especially 
adapted to the application of the phonetic principles em- 
bodied in the series. These series are studied, not for 
their own sake, but for the sake of developing in the pupil 
power to master the sounds of varying combinations of 
vowels and consonants as he meets these combinations in 

177 



178 LEARNING TO READ 

his reading. To accomplish this, the pupil must be re- 
quired to apply constantly the knowledge of these combi- 
nations of letters and their sounds which he has learned 
from the chart. This will necessitate constant reference 
to the chart. Suppose, for instance, a pupil is not able at 
once to pronounce a word which belongs to a series already 
studied, as the word scorn, which is used for the first 
time in the second lesson of the Second Reader. He 
should not be told the word, but should be referred to 
series 39 on the chart and required to find out the pro- 
nunciation for himself. It may be found advisable to run 
through in review the whole -orn series. 

Throughout the Second Reader there are introduced 
words belonging to series already studied which are not 
listed as new words at the beginning of the lesson, 
although they have never before been used in the text. 
These words afford the pupil an excellent opportunity to 
apply his knowledge of phonics. While studying a new 
lesson, and in his individual supplementary reading, the 
pupil should have free access to the Chart, and should be 
trained and encouraged to use it whenever necessary. 

A fundamental rule for the teacher is never to tell a 
child a word whose pronunciation he is capable of making 
out for himself. And by the time the Second Reader is 
reached most children will have developed sufficient 
knowledge of phonics so that they should be encouraged 
to try the pronunciation of any phonetic word, even 
though they have never studied the series to which it 



THE METHOD APPLIED 179 

belongs. Even words that belong to no series, irregulaii 
words, the pupil should be trained to analyze, to find out 
the parts that are familiar, to sound it part by part, and so 
to pronounce it. Take, for example, the word Lamhikin. 
The pupil knows the two little words am and in ; he also 
knows the consonant sounds. By analyzing and applying 
this knowledge he should be able to get the whole word. 
He may sound the h ; but, usually, after a first sounding, 
he will drop it of his own accord. If he does not, he may 
be told that h is silent ; but, at most, this is all he should 
be told. 

If pupils' knowledo;e of the consonant sounds ,„ 

^ ^ '^ ... [Pages 23-25] 

IS not perfect, they should be given drill with 
the consonant cards. 

Teachers who first take up this method with the Second 
Reader should familiarize themselves thoroughly with the 
plan and purpose of teaching phonics, by studying care- 
fully the following : Chapter I, 6-10, and Chapter II, 4. 

2. Dramatizing. The stories in the Second and Third 
Readers are especially well adapted for dramatization ; 
they abound in action, they contain much conversation. 
The action interpreted and the conversation together com- 
plete the story. The dramatizing of these stories calls for 
few accessories in the way of stage settings. Dramatizing 
should be left more and more in the hands of the pupils, 
the teacher suggesting and guiding. 

To illustrate one method of dramatizing a story, let us 
take the story of "Billy Binks," page 117, of the Second 



180 LEARNING TO READ 

Jleader. After the pupils have read the story as it is given 
in the book, let them read it again in dialogue form. The 
same children keep the parts of the different characters all 
the way through the story. Each reads just what the char- 
acter he represents says, and reads it exactly as he thinks 
the character in the story would say it. Thus — 

Pony. — Where are you going, Billy Binks? 
Billy Binks. — I am going to seek my fortune. 
Pony. — : May I go, too ? etc. 

After the story has been read through thus — if the pupils 
really enter into the spirit of the story, the expression will 
be perfect -- the children representing the different animals 
take their places at intervals around the room. Billy Binks, 
walking around the room, meets each in turn, converses 
with him, and is followed by him as he continues on his 
way to seek his fortune. A child in a distant corner repre- 
sents the hob-goblin. Billy Binks and the animals rush 
on the hob-gol^lin, making all the noise they can. Billy 
yells, the horse neighs, the cow moos, etc. Thus they 
frighten the hob-goblin away by their noise, but without 
doing all the damage described in the story. 

Whenever possible the stories should be read in dialogue 
form and then dramatized. The dramatization should be 
spontaneous, and should follow the first reading of the story. 
After the experience pupils have already had in dramatiz- 
ing, they will be able to dramatize a story at once. Such 
dramatization is only a more complete form of reading. 



THE METHOD APPLIED 181 

No practice, for the sake of a finislied product, is desired. 
This exercise is not for the sake of the drama, but of 
the pupils. After a story has been dramatized, it should 
be re-read. The expression will be found to have 
improved much on account of the dramatization. The 
effects of dramatization will be found to extend beyond 
the selections dramatized, even to the reading of the 
poetry. 

The poems iu these books have been carefully selected 
for the opportunities they afford of teaching good expres- 
sion in reading poetry. They are to be studied and read 
again and again. If pupils are well taught, they thoroughly 
enjoy reading such poems and will ask to read them over 
and over, instead of turning the leaves rapidly when they 
see a page of verses. 

Second and third grade teachers should study thoroughly 
Chapter I, 4, to become familiar with the general plan 
and purpose of dramatization ; they should also read the 
specific directions for dramatizing certain stories, as given 
in Chapters III-XXI. 

3. Reproduction of stories. Even after these stories have 
been studied, dramatized, and read they are not to be for- 
gotten. They have been collected from the world's store 
of folk lore and are well worth remembering. They are 
tlie best possible kind of stories for reproduction work in 
language, both oral and written. The language is that 
of the ordinary child's vocabulary ; the sentences are 
generally short and simple ; many of the stories contain 



182 LEARNING TO READ 

frequent repetitions of words, expressions, and sentences; 
the subject-matter is interesting to children. 

4. Reading and expression. See Chapter I, Sees. 12 and 13. 

5. Seat work. In addition to the regular reading books, 
each class should be provided with a number of different 
books for silent reading at the desks. These books should 
of course contain stories that appeal to the children's 
interests. The reading should be easy, within the pupils' 
power to grasp the thought as well as their ability to read 
the words. These books may be single copies of second 
or third year books, or they may be sets carefully selected 
by the teacher and sent from the public library. 

From time to time a pupil should be allowed to read 
aloud to the class from the book read at the seat. Some- 
times a pupil may be asked to tell the story he has read. 
This gives the teacher an opportunity to judge whether 
the child gets the thought as he reads, whether he is 
reading intelligently or not. 

Then, too, by noting just what most interests each indi- 
vidual pupil, what kind of a story pleases him, which books 
he tries to get for his silent reading, the teacher may by a 
suggestion or guiding word direct the pupil's independent 
reading along the best lines. 

6. Pictures. All pictures illustrate and help to interpret 
the text ; they should be studied carefully. See Chapter 
I, Sec. 3 ; also detailed suggestions for picture study as 
given in Chapters III to XIX. 

7. Spelling. See Chapter IT, Sec. 4, 9-13. 



CHAPTER XXIII 

THE PHONIC CHART 

The Phonic Chart should be in constant use for two 
years or longer. Work with it should begin soon after 
taking up the First Reader. The series are best taken 
up in order, each one at a certain point in the [pages 16-34; 
reading of the First and Second Readers, as pp- 62-68] 
indicated below. Taken in this order it will be found 
that the first word or words of the series occur in the les- 
son being read from the book. Usually, the first word of 
the series has been previously learned as a sight word and 
is now being used to aid the child in pronouncing a new 
word of the same series. For instance, it is directed below 
that series 10, 11, and 12 be taken when page 38 of the 
First Reader is reached. The first words of these series 
are respectively, ^e^, let ; ivill, till ; and sing,'iDing. Turn- 
ing to page 38 of the First Reader, we find that get, loill, 
and sing, sight words already learned, are used as type 
words to suggest the pronunciation respectively of let, till, 
and iving. In teaching each of these new words in prepa- 
ration for the lesson which follows, the whole series of 
words to which the new word belongs is to be taught. 

Series already taught should be reviewed constantly. 
Pupils must form the habit of applying the knowledge 

183 



184 LEARNING TO READ 

of vowel sounds thus learned whenever there is oppor- 
tunity. If a pupil does not recognize at once -et, -ill, 
■ing, or any other type combination which he has had, he 
should not be told, but should be referred to the series 
of which that combination forms the base, and the series 
should be reviewed. Just as, in the beginning of their 
work, pupils had to refer to the rhymes for words not 
recognized, so now they must refer to the series for vowel 
combinations not recognized. 

It is profitable frequently to go over in succession sev- 
eral series wliich contain the same vowel or vowels with 
the same vowel sound. All the series containing the same 
vowel and vowel sound are readily found from the index 
on the first page of the Chart. 

Much variety should be introduced into the phonic 
drills. As soon as pupils have gained some power in the 
pronunciation of series, sounding and combining readily 
the initial consonant or consonants with the constant 
vowel combination, they may take more difficult exercises. 
The teacher may write on the board the base of any series, 
selecting more or less familiar ones according to the power 
of the pupils, as -at or -ent. She then names different con- 
sonants, as h, s, t, s]), which pupils are to prefix to the 
given base. The teacher should be careful to give only 
such consonants as combine with the base to make real 
words. This exercise is entirely oral. 

With several bases on the board, as -ell, -ill, -it, -ick, -oat, 
etc., the teacher may name a consonant and require pupils 



THE PHONIC CHART 185 

to prefix it to as many of the bases as possible, making 
real words. With the consonant h, the pupil may give 
hell, hill, hit, and, hoat; with k, kill and kick. If pupils are 
made thoughtful in this exercise, it may prove of much 
value in enlarging their vocabulary and in teaching them 
to spell, as well as in drilling them in sounds and their 
combinations. They should not be allowed thoughtlessly 
to combine sounds which make no word ; they should be 
constantly required to tell the meaning of the words they 
make or to use them in sentences. 

It is safer to make this an oral exercise, as many words 
will be made quite correctly as to sound but incorrect in 
spelling, if written. For instance, in the above illustra- 
tion, koat might be given. In this case, let the teacher 
say, " No, coat is not spelled with a k. What other letter 
has the same sound?" If the pupils are as familiar with 
the consonants and their sounds as they should be at this 
time, they will be able to answer at once. Then let the 
teacher require them to spell coat correctly. 

Many simpler exercises which have been begun before 
taking up regular drills with the series should still be kept 
up. Some of the best of them are the following : (1) The 
teacher sounds a letter or a combination of letters ; the 
pupils name the letter or letters. (2) The teacher names 
a letter or combination of letters; pupils give sound. 
(3) The teacher spells words by giving the sounds of the 
letters in order; the pupils pronounce. (4) The teacher 
spells words by naming the letters ; the pupils pronounce. 



186 LEARNING TO READ 

(5) The teacher pronounces words and the pupils spell 
them, both by sounding and by naming the letters. This 
exercise should be written as well as oral, just as soon as 
the pupils are able to write. 

These spelling exercises are of the greatest advantage in 
perfecting the pupil's command of sounds and of letters 
representing sounds. They are an aid to reading and 
spelling alike. They must not be done carelessly or me- 
chanically either by pupil or teacher, but always thought- 
fully and intelligently. The pupil to whom a word is first 
given must spell it. He must be made to feel that the 
word is his, that he alone is responsible for the correct spell- 
ing of it, just as in reading he is made to feel that he must 
make out every word in the selection which he is reading. 
As in reading, the teacher may give such assistance as will 
help the child to help himself ; as, for instance, she may 
suggest a more familiar word in the same series, or she 
may help him to fix his attention on each sound of the 
[Page 36 ;4; word in Order. The common practice of letting 
pp. 37; 5] ^ child stand dumb and helpless for a minute, or 
of allowino; him to make one or two vao-ue and misdirected 
efforts at the spelling of a word, and then passing it on to 
the "next" or to a volunteer, is not teaching to spell; it 
is merely finding out who can spell. 

There are two hundred series in all. The time for tak- 
ing up each of the first 167 only is indicated below. Se- 
ries 168 to 200 are special test series. All the words of 
each of these series contain the same vowel and vowel 



THE PHONIC CHART 



187 



sound, but the consonants which follow, as well as those 
which precede the vowel, vary. These series are used to 
advantage in testing the pupil's power to recognize vowels 
and consonant sounds in constantly changing combina- 
tions. The use of these test series is not to be deferred 
until all the preceding series have been taken up. One 
test series, it will be observed, is devoted to each of the 
principal vowel sounds which have occurred in tlie regular 
series. After taking up a few of the regular series based 
on a given vowel and vowel sound, the test series based 
on the same vowel should be taken. For instance, series 
170 is based on a. This series may well be tried after 
pupils have had the regular series, 5, 13, 27, 48, which 
are also based on a. Work with series 170 should be re- 
viewed frequently as other regular series in a, as 79, 84, 
110, etc., are reached. 

ORDER OF TAKING UP THE SERIES 



Page 

13 
15 
17 
21 

26 
30 
33 
38 
40 



(The First Reader) 




Series 


Page 


Series 


1 


45 


18, 19 


2,3 


48 


21 


4 


52 


22 


5 


56 


20 


6 


60 


23, 24 


7,8 


67 


25, 26 


9 


69 


27-29 


10-12 


73 


30 


13-17 


74 


31, 32 



188 



LEARNING TO HEAD 



rage 


Series 


Page 




Series 


83 


33 


107 




47-49 


84 


34 


110 




50,51 


86 


35,37 


114 




52,53 


90 


36, 38-40 


118 




54 


95 


41, 43 


120 




55 


102 


42, 44, 46 


122 




56 


106 


45 


125 




57 




(The Second Reader) 




Pag6 


Series 


Page 




Series 


3 


58 


11 


111, 


112, 114, 115 


6 


59-61 


81 




113, 116-119 


8 


62-66 


84 




120-125 


12 


67, 68, 70 


93 




127 


16 


69, 71-76 


94 




126, 128-133 


26 


77-79, 81 




134, 


135, 137, 145 


36 • 


80, 82-87 


100 




136 


46 


89, 90 


107 


139, 


149, 159, 165 


63 


88, 92 


115 




140 


55 


91, 93-96 


117 


138,141-144,157,161 


60 


97-99 


133 




146 


62 


100 


138 




147, 154 


63 


101 


145 




148 


65 


102-104 


151 




150-152, 156 


68 


105, 106 


160 


153, 155, 160, 163, 


70 


108 




164, 


167 


71 


109 


172 




158, 162, 166 


73 


107, 110 









THE PHONIC CHART 



189 



THE PHONIC CHART 

Index by Series 









A 


Vorcels 




Series 


a 


as 


in 


pi ace 


a 


li 


11 


b ack 


a 


a 


11 


gl ad 


a 


li 


11 


m ade 


a 


u 


11 


br ag 


a 


a 


ti 


age 


a 


li 


11 


m aid 


a 


11 


a 


s ail 


a 


ii 


11 


r ain 


a 


11 


li 


f aint 


a 


11 


li 


f air 


a 


11 


11 


w ake 


a 


11 


11 


p ale 


a 


li 


11 


w alk 


a 


11 


11 


all 


a 


(I 


11 


am 


a 


11 


11 


c ame 


a 


li 


11 


c an 


a 


11 


11 


and 


a 


a 


11 


c ane 


a 


li 


11 


h ang 


a 


11 


li 


th ank 


a 


11 


11 


pi ant 
E 


Vowels 




Series 


e 


as 


in 


p ea 


e 


u 


(( 


r each 


6 


(( 


11 


h ead 



No. Page 


161 


19 


14 


7 


14 


4 


13 


3 


167 


20 


79 


12 


145 


18 


83 


12 


30 


6 


155 


19 


46 


8 


27 


5 


110 


15 


109 


15 


6 


2 


59 


9 


48 


8 


15 


4 


32 


6 


152 


18 


57 


9 


69 


10 


85 


13 



Voiceh 

a 

a 
a 
a 
a 
a 
a 
a 

a 

a 
a 
a 
a 

a 
a 

a 

a 

a 
a 
a 
a 
a 



Series 

as in h ap 

" " st ar 

*' '' we ar 

" " h ard 

" *' c are 

" " h ark 

" " atm 

" " sm art 

'' " ash 

*' " ask 

" " gr ass 

" " 1 ast 

" " t aste 

" " at 

" " catch 

" " gate 

" " m atter 

a II 



No. 


Page 


105 


15 


90 


13 


45 


7 



a II 



g ave 
s aw 
" " y awn 
" " say 
" " bl aze 



No. Page 

58 9 

35 6 

116 16 

149 18 
75 11 
67 10 

150 18 
157 19 

91 13 

153 18 

95 14 

21 5 

115 16 

23 5 

165 20 

84 13 

156 19 

113 15 

34 6 

131 17 

5 2 

143 18 



Vowels 


Series 


No. Page 


e 


as in d eer 


74 11 


e 


" " feet 


25 5 


e 


" " eight 


142 18 



190 



LEARNING TO READ 



Votcels 




Series 




2^0. 


Pitge 


Voii'els 




Series 


JVb. 


P.ige 


e 


as 


in 


sp 


eak 


77 


11 


6 


as 


in 


tell 


19 


4 


e 


a 


a 


m 


eal 


122 


16 


6 


ii 


u 


felt 


141 


18 


e 


11 


a 


dr 


earn 


102 


14 


6 


K 


u 


th en 


73 


11 


e 


u 


(I 


b 


ean 


147 


18 


6 


a 


(C 


wh ence 


99 


14 


e 


u 


u 


1 


eap 


103 


14 


6 


a 


u 


end 


132 


17 


e 


a 


a 


n 


ear 


28 


5 


6 


a 


ii 


w ent 


47 


8 


e 


n 


u 




east 


76 


11 


g 


11 


11 


matt er 


156 


19 


e 


u 


a 




eat 


56 


9 


e 


a 


ii 


clev er 


139 


17 


6 


(I 


n 


w 


eatlier 


61 


9 


e 


u 


ii 


ov er 


55 


9 


e 


a 


11 


1 


eave 


134 


17 


e 


ti 


ii 


f ern 


148 


18 


6 


n 


u 


n 


eck 


117 


16 


6 


a 


ii 


dr ess 


108 


15 


6 


a 


u 


b 


ed 


36 


6 


6 


u 


ii 


n est 


4 


2 


e 


a 


u 


s 


ee 


1 


2 


6 


a 


ii 


get 


10 


3 


e 


u 


n 


f eecl 


29 


6 


6 


u 


ii 


str etch 


164 


20 


e 


n 


u 


s 


eek 


111 


15 


6 


a 


ii 


cl ever 


139 


17 


e 


11 


a 


f 


eel 


166 


20 


ew 


a 


it 


gr ew 


8 


3 


e 


i( 


a 


s 


een 


53 


8 


ew 


11 


ii 


fl ew 


7 


3 


e 


(( 


11 


p eep 


43 


7 















wela 


Series 


1 as 


in 


ice 






ch ick 






did 






h ide 






or ied 






fl ies 






life 






cliff 






lift 






big 






n iglit 



Jfo. 


Page 


Vov 


78 


12 




72 


11 




37 


7 




22 


5 




86 


13 




88 


13 




125 


16 




133 


17 




96 


14 




52 


8 




20 


4 





els 


Series 


iVo. 


Page 


as 


in 


in 


49 


8 






find 


70 


11 






f ine 


94 


14 






s ing 


12 


3 






s ingle 


126 


17 






th ink 


81 


12 






t ip 


82 


12 






th is 


93 


14 






g irl 


151 


18 






sk irt 


101 


14 






tw ist 


146 


18 



THE PHONIC CHART 



191 



welt 


Series 


JVb. Page 


I 


as in 


will 


11 3 


1 


a a 


h im 


54 8 


I 


(( u 


it 


44 7 



as m 



fly 



Votcels Series 

1 as in k ite 



h ive 



JVb. Page 

26 5 
68 10 



Vowels 
6 
6 
o 
6 
6 
6 
6 
o 
6 
6 
6 
o 
6 
o 
6 
oo 

00 

do 
oo 

00 
00 



Series 

as in 



oak 
r oar 

" c oat 

" V ob 

" Y ock 

" s oft 

" 1 og 

" w oke 

'< old 

" h ole 

" r oil 

" d ome 

" p ond 

" sh one 

" 1 ong 

" g ood 

" r oof 

" 1 ook 

" c ool 

" s oon 

" h oot 



iVo. 


Page 


140 


18 


144 


18 


97 


14 


89 


13 


64 


10 


J14 


16 


104 


15 


124 


16 


3 


2 


121 


16 


106 


15 


135 


17 


159 


19 


51 


8 


24 


5 


123 


16 


138 


17 


16 


4 


63 


10 


31 


6 


137 


17 



Vowels 

6 

6 

o 

6 

6 

6 

6 

ou 

ou 

on 

ou 

6 

o 

6 

6 

ow 

ow 

o 

ow 

oy 



Series 

as in t op 

" " m orn 

" '' r ose 

" " m OSS 

" '' 1 ost 

" " n ot 

'' " n ote 

" " 1 ond 

" " ought 

" " found 

" " out 

" " 1 ove 



A^o. Page 



u il 



u l( 



u u 



r ove 
over 



gr ow 
" " h ow 

" " owl 



own 



" " d own 
" " b oy 



38 
39 



71 11 

98 14 

112 15 

66 10 

136 17 

65 10 

60 9 

18 4 

87 13 

92 13 

107 15 

55 9 

9 3 

100 14 

128 17 

162 20 

50 8 

158 19 



192 



LEARNING TO READ 



Vinrels 




Series 


m. 


U 


as in 1 uck 


62 


ft 




' bud 


130 


ft 




' bl ue 


42 


ft 




' sn ug 


120 


ft 




' en ough 


129 


ft 




' d ull 


118 


ft 




' j ump 


80 


a 




' s un 


41 



10 
17 

7 
16 
17 
16 
12 

7 



roM'e^s 




Series 


m. 


Page 


ft 


as 


in 


b unch 


160 


19 


u 






J uue 


119 


16 


ft 






up 


40 


7 


u 






c url 


127 


17 


ft 






h ush 


154 


19 


ft 






m ust 


33 


6 


ft 






but 


163 


20 



Miscellaneous Words for Application and Drill 



Vowel Sounds 


xVo. 


Page 


Vowel. Sounds 


Xo. 


Page 


short 


168 


20 


gr 


185 


24 


long (final e)* 


169 


20 


ie 


186 


24 


a 


170 


21 


I 


187 


25 


Si,i 


171 


21 


1 


188 


25 


& 


172 


21 


I 


189 


25 


a 


173 


22 


ir 


190 


26 


al 


174 


22 


6 


191 


26 


ar 


175 


22 


6a 


192 


26 


au 


176 


22 


00 


193 


26 


aw 


177 


22 


6 


194 


26 


3' 


178 


23 


or 


195 


26 


au 


179 


23 


ou 


196 


27 


ee 


180 


23 


oi 


197 


27 


ea 


181 


23 


u 


198 


27 


6 


182 


24 


u 


199 


27 


e 


183 


24 


ftr 


200 


27 


ea 


184 


24 













THE 


PHONIC CHART 






19S 






Index by 


Sounds 








ytcels Series 


Vowels 


Series 


Vowels 


Series Vowels 


Series 


Vowels 


Series 


a 5 


ar 


35 


e 


4 1 


11 


00 


31 


13 




67 




10 


12 




63 


27 




149 




19 


37 




137 


48 




150 




36 


44 




138 


79 




157 




47 


49 




193 


84 




175 




73 


52 






110 








99 


54 


oo 


16 


113 


all 


176 




108 


72 




123 


115 








117 


81 






143 


a 


6 




132 


82 


or 


39 


152 




109 




139 


93 




195 


161 




178 




141 


96 






170 








164 


126 


ou 


18 




au 


179 




182 


133 




65 


ai 30 








183 


146 




87 


83 


aw 


34 






188 




196 


145 




131 


ea 


45 


189 






155 




177 




61 5 


3 






171 


ee 


1 




184 " 


9 
51 






a 14 




25 


e 


55 


55 


ow 


50 


15 




29 




139 


71 




100 


17 




43 




148 


106 




128 


23 




53 




156 


107 






32 




74 




185 


121 


oy 


158 


57 




111 






124 




197 


58 




166 


i 


20 


135 






59 




180 




22 


136 


u 


42 


69 








26 


162 




119 


91 


ea 


28 




68 


191 




198 


156 




56 




70 








165 




76 




78 6a 


97 


u 


33 


167 




77 




94 


140 




40 


172 




90 




125 


144 




41 






102 




187 


192 




62 


a 21 




103 










80 


85 




105 


T 


101 6 


24 




118 


95 




122 




151 


38 




120 


153 




134 




190 


64 




130 


173 




147 
181 






66 
89 




154 
160 


ai 174 










98 




163 




ie 


186 






104 
112 
114 
159 
194 


fi 


199 

127 
200 



[1] 



194 




LEARNING TO 


READ 




1 


2 


3 


pest 


bray 


see 


fly 


- old 


test 


tray 


be 


sky 


hold 


V est 


stray 


bee 


by 


c old 


e 


way 


m e 


my 


bold 


6 


sw ay 


he 


try 


fold 


say 


i^y 


ye 


why 


gold 


day 


stay 


sh e 


sly 


m old 


may 


a 


the 


cry 


sold 


gay 


6 


w e 


dry 


told 


hay 


all 


tree 


buy 





lay 


fall 


thr ee 


pry 


4 


play 


hall 


fee 


spry 


n est 


clay 


c all 


flee 


fry 


b est 


slay 


tall 


knee 


ply 


w est 


nay 


st all 


free 


wry 


rest 


pay 


ball 


lee 


shy 


cr est 


ray 


w all 


glee 


sty 


ch est 


dr ay 


sm all 


ee 


spy 


jest 


pray 


sqii all 


e 


y 


1 est 


gray 


a 



[2] 





THE 


PHONIC 


CHART 


7 


9 


10 


pill 


fl ew 


grow 


get 


spill 


blew 


bl ow 


let 


sill 


f ew 


snow 


yet 


still 


h ew 


1 ow 


m et 


rill 


d ew 


fl ow 


n et 


drill 


m ew 


si ow 


jet 


skill 


new 


b ow 


pet 


frill 


kn ew 


tow 


set 


shr ill 


p ew 


m ow 


wet 


tr ill 


J ew 


s ow 


fret 


qu ill 


st ew 


sh ow 


e 


ch ill 


8 


know 


11 


ill 


gr ew 


row 


w ill 


i 


br ew 


or ow 


till 


12 


cr ew 


thr ow 


fill 


s ing 


clr ew 


gl ow 


bill 


w ing 


scr ew 


st ow 


hill 


r ing 


str ew 


str ow 


mill 


el ing 


thr ew 


o 


kill 
[3] 


fling 



195 


si ing 


bring 


spr ing 


str ing 


king 


th ing 


st ing 


wr ing 


sw ing 


i 


13 


m ade 


shade 


spade 


fade 


w ade 


trade 


grade 


bl ade 


a 



196 


LEi« 


lrning to ] 


READ 




14 


t an 


17 


18 


shell 


glad 


clan 


b ack 


found 


smell 


h ad 


D an 


cr ack 


bound 


dwell 


bad 


th an 


J ack 


r ound 


dell 


brad 


pi an 


pack 


gr ound 


e 


fad 


van 


h ack 


h ound 


20 


lad 


an 


1 ack 


mound 


n ight 


cl ad 


a 


black 


p ound 


m ight 


m ad 


16 


si ack 


sound 


r ight 


p ad 


1 ook 


cl ack 


ou 


br ight 


s ad 


took 


kn ack 


19 


f ight 


sh ad 


rook 


rack 


tell 


si ight 


a 


c ook 


tr ack 


w ell 


flight 


15 


b ook 


s ack 


fell 


s ight 


can 


h ook 


t ack 


bell 


t ight 


ran 


nook 


stack 


sw ell 


bl ight 


m an 


brook 


q\\ ack 


cell 


pi ight 


f an 


cr ook 


wh ack 


sell 


f r ight 


p an 


sh ook 


sm ack 


yell 


1 ight 


span 


00 


a 


spell 


i 





THE 


PHONIC 


CHART 


197 


21 


23 


24 


26 


brake 


1 ast 


at 


long 


kite 


drake 


fast 


h at 


song 


wh ite 


sh ake 


past 


cat 


gong 


wr ite 


flake 


bl ast 


b at 


dong 


b ite 


snake 


cast 


fat 


prong 


quite 


a 


m ast 


tat 


wr ong 


site 


28 


V ast 


that 


str ong 


sm ite 


n ear 


a 


chat 





i 


hear 


22 


m at 


25 


27 


sh ear 


h ide 


p at 


feet 


wake 


d ear 


side 


spat 


m eet 


m ake 


fear 


r ide 


rat 


beet 


b ake 


rear 


bride 


s at 


sw eet 


cake 


tear 


pr ide 


vat 


gr eet 


lake 


y ear 


w ide 


slat 


fleet 


rake 


sp ear 


t ide 


flat 


sh eet 


sake 


sm ear 


gl ide 


gn at 


str eet 


t ake 


cl ear 


si ide 


pi at 


si eet 


qu ake 


ear 


i 


a 


ee 
[5] 


st ake 


ea 



198 


LEARNING TO ; 


READ 




29 


slain 


32 


34 


c ar 


feed 


pain 


and 


saw 


m ar 


need 


m ain 


1 and 


paw 


t ar 


d eed 


V ain 


s and 


caw 


jar 


li eed 


cli ain 


b and 


jaw 


sc ar 


s eed 


tr ain 


st and 


law 


sp ar 


w eed 


str ain 


str and 


raw 


a 


r eed 


dr ain 


gr and 


straw 


36 


gr eed 


stain 


brand 


fl aw 


bed 


freed 


Spain 


hand 


cl aw 


red 


1j1 eed 


spr ain 


a 


draw 


Fred 


sp eed 


ai 


33 


gn aw 


led 


ee 


31 


m ust 


til aw 


fled 


30 


s oon 


j i^^ist 


d aw 


sled 


r ain 


m oon 


g ust 


squ aw 


bled 


pi ain 


n oon 


cr ust 


a 


Ned 


gr ain 


spoon 


d ust 


35 


fed 


brain 


1 oon 


r ust 


st ar 


w ed 


gain 


c oon 


trust 


far 


sh ed 


1 ain 


00 


u 


bar 


e 



[6] 





THE 


PHONIC 


CHART 


199 


37 


shop 


41 


43 


pit 


did 


flop 


Sim 


peep 


tit 


hid 


ch op 


fun 


deep 


flit 


bid 


strop 


run 


keep 


slit 


kid 


slop 


b un 


w eep 


qu it 


1-id 


o 


d un 


sw eep 


grit 


rid 


39 


gun 


steep 


spit 


slid 


m orn 


n un 


creep 


i 


i 


h orn 


pun 


sh eep 


45 


38 


corn 


spun 


si eep 


h ead 


top 


b orn 


stun 


ee 


d ead 


stop 


sc orn 


sh un 


44 


1 ead 


drop 


th orn 


u 


it 


read 


hop 


o 


42 


sit 


bread 


1 op 


40 


bl ue 


bit 


tr ead 


mop 


up 


due 


fit 


dread 


pop 


cup 


h ue 


hit 


st ead 


sop 


sup 


sue 


lit 


spr ead 


crop 


pup 


cue 


mit 


thr ead 


pr op 


u 


ue 


w it 


ea 



200 


LEARNING TO 


READ 




46 


48 


t in 


51 


prig 


f air 


c ame 


w in 


sh one 


sprig 


air 


n ame 


pin 


st one 


i 


h air 


game 


ch in 


b one 


53 


1 air 


dame 


sp in 


c one 


s een 


p air 


fame 


sk in 


drone 


green 


ch air 


flame 


grin 


h one 


qn een 


st air 


s ame 


th in 


tone 


scr een 


ai 


tame 


twin 


z one 


ee 


47 


1 ame 


i 





54 


w ent 


bl ame 


50 


52 


h im 


s ent 


fr ame 


d own 


big 


d im 


bent 


sh ame 


town 


dig 


rim 


d ent 


a 


gown 


fig 


brim 


c ent 


49 


cl own 


pig 


pr im 


lent 


in 


br own 


wig 


tr im 


r ent 


bin 


or own 


rig 


sw im 


t ent 


din 


dr own 


jig 


sk im 


sp ent 


fin 


fr own 


tw ig 


si im 


e 


sin 


ow 


brig 


i 



[8] 





THE PHONIC 


CHART 


201 


55 


57 


1 ap 


cl am 


ver 


hang 


yap 


cram 


cl ver 


sang 


m ap 


tram 


Dover 


bang 


nap 


sham 


Rover 


clang 


tap 


slam 


dr ver 


fang 


sap 


a 





gang 


strap 


60 


56 


rang 


slap 


ought 


eat 


spr ang 


snap 


th ought 


b eat 


slang 


trap 


br ought 


heat 


twang 


wrap 


b ought 


meat 


a 


a 


f ought 


n eat 


58 


59 


s ought 


p eat 


h ap 


am 


ou 


seat 


rap 


swam 


61 


bleat 


chap 


d am 


w eath er 


ch eat 


clap 


h am 


f eath er 


treat 


flap 


jam 


h eath er 


wh eat 


gap 


ram 


1 eath er 


ea 


cap 


Sam 


ea 



[9] 



202 


LEARNING TO 


READ 




62 


64 


66 


67 


69 


1 uck 


rock 


not 


h ark 


th ank 


st uck 


cock 


lot 


d ark 


b ank 


cl uck 


bl ock 


blot 


sp ark 


bl ank 


pluck 


frock 


cot 


b ark 


cl ank 


suck 


flock 


clot 


m ark 


cr ank 


t uck 


lock 


dot 


park 


dr ank 


str uck 


mock 


got 


1 ark 


flank 


d uck 


knock 


hot 


shark 


frank 


truck 


stock 


jot 


a 


hank 


u 


shock 


knot 


68 


1 ank 


63 


crock 


pot 


hive 


pi ank 


cool 


clock 


plot 


1 ive 


prank 


fool 


sock 


rot 


dive 


rank 


spool 





sh ot 


five 


sank 


pool 


65 


slot 


str ive 


shank 


tool 


loud 


spot 


thr ive 


dank 


stool 


pr oud 


tot 


al ive 


spank 


sch ool 


cl oud 


trot 


dr ive 


tank 


00 


ou 


o 

[lOJ 


i 


a 



70 

find 

k ind 

b ind 

h ind 

m ind 

w ind 

r ind 

grind 

bl ind 

i 

71 

rose 

th ose 

n ose 

h ose 

pose 

pr ose 

cl ose 

o 



THE 


PHONIC CHART 


203 


72 


73 


76 


76 


ch ick 


then 


care 


east 


quick 


h en 


d are 


1 east 


tick 


den 


h are 


feast 


Dick 


m en 


bare 


b east 


k ick 


pen 


bl are 


y east 


lick 


ten 


fare 


ea 


n ick 


wh en 


fl are 


77 


p ick 


wren 


gl are 


sp eak 


s ick 


e 


m are 


creak 


wick 


74 


pare 


squ eak 


crick 


d eer 


r are 


w eak 


stick 


peer 


stare 


b eak 


prick 


beer 


sp are 


bl eak 


cl ick 


ch eer 


sh are 


fr eak 


brick 


jeer 


sn are 


leak 


trick 


sneer 


sc are 


peak 


th ick 


qu eer 


t are 


str eak 


si ick 


steer 


ware 


wr eak 


i 


ee 
[11] 


a 


ea 



204 


LEARNING TO 


rp:ad 




78 


page 


81 


82 


83 


ice 


sage 


think 


tip 


s ail 


m ice 


stage 


drink 


skip 


snail 


dice 


wage 


rink 


drip 


nail 


1 ice 


a 


link 


slip 


bail 


n ice 


80 


blink 


ch ip 


fail 


price 


jump 


cl ink 


clip 


h ail 


rice 


h ump 


chink 


d ip 


jail 


slice 


bump 


slink 


grip 


mail 


spice 


cl ump 


pink 


h ip 


pail 


spl ice 


dump 


m ink 


lip 


rail 


thr ice 


lump 


w ink 


nip 


trail 


trice 


pi ump 


s ink 


rip 


frail 


twice 


pump 


t ink 


sip 


tail 


vice 


rump 


brink 


sh ip 


wail 


i 


si ump 


shr ink 


sn ip 


qu ail 


79 


st ump 


pr ink 


tr ip 


flail 


age 


th ump 


k ink 


wh ip 


V ail 


c age 


tr ump 


ink 


pip 


ail 


rage 


u 


i 

[12] 


i 


a^ 





THE 


PHONIC 


CHART 


205 


84 


pant 


rout 


89 


91 


gate 


rant 


stout 


rob 


ash 


ate 


si ant 


spout 


cob 


dash 


Kate 


ch aiit 


sh out 


bob 


flash 


1 ate 


a 


scout 


fob 


crash 


fate 


86 


trout 


hob 


clash 


grate 


cried 


snout 


job 


hash 


h ate 


died 


ou 


knob 


lash 


m ate 


dried 


88 


m ob 


mash 


plate 


f r ied 


fl ies 


sob 


sash 


rate 


lied 


sk ies 





rash 


crate 


spied 


ties 


90 


sm ash 


skate 


tried 


dr ies 


reach 


trash 


slate 


tied 


d ies 


p each 


a 


a 


ie 


fries 


pr each 


92 


85 


87 


1 ies 


b each 


love 


plant 


out 


spies 


bl each 


dove 


can't 


ab out 


tr ies 


teach 


shove 


gr ant 


gout 


cries 


each 


gl ove 


ant 


pout 


ie 
[13] 


ea 


o 



206 


LEARNING TO 


READ 




93 


sh ine 


rift 


99 


dirt 


this 


wh ine 


sift 


wh ence 


flirt 


miss 


th ine 


gift 


th ence 


girt 


hiss 


tw ine 


shift 


p ence 


ir 


k iss 


brine 


thr ift 


fence 


102 


bliss 


i 


i 


h ence 


dream 


i 


95 


97 


e 


team 


94 


grass 


coat 


100 


b eam 


fine 


pass 


goat 


h ow 


cream 


pine 


m ass 


boat 


b ow 


gl eam 


d ine 


glass 


fl oat 


cow 


ream 


k ine 


lass 





n ow 


s eam 


1 ine 


class 


98 


brow 


steam 


mine 


brass 


moss 


pi ow 


ea 


nine 


ass 


toss 


m ow 


103 


spine 


a 


b OSS 


ow 


leap 


t ine 


96 


cr OSS 


101 


reap 


w ine 


lift 


gloss 


sk irt 


heap 


swine 


sw ift 


loss 


sh irt 


ch eap 


vine 


drift 


o 

[14] 


squ irt 


ea 





THE 


PHONIC CHART 


207 


104 


106 


108 


gale 


112 


log 


roll 


dress 


m ale 


lost 


frog 


toll 


gu ess 


s ale 


c ost 


bog 


poll 


bl ess 


st ale 


frost 


cog 


troll 


less 


scale 





clog 


dr oil 


m ess 


V ale 


113 


fog 


str oil 


press 


whale 


gave 


flog 


knoll 


e 


Yale 


save 


hog 





109 


a 


brave 


dog 


107 


walk 


111 


c ave 


jog 


rove 


talk 


seek 


1 ave 





stove 


balk 


p eek 


pave 


105 


wove 


stalk 


creek 


rave 


pea 


cove 


chalk 


cheek 


sh ave 


sea 


cl ove 


a 


Greek 


slave 


tea 


drove 


110 


leek 


w ave 


lea 


grove 


pale 


meek 


crave 


fl ea 


str ove 


t ale 


si eek 


gr ave 


plea 


thr ove 


bale 


w eek 


kn ave 


ea 





d ale 
[15] 


ee 


a 



208 


LEARNING TO 


READ 




114 


117 


120 


pole 


124 


soft 


n eck 


sn ug 


wh ole 


a w oke 


loft 


deck 


dug 


sole 


spoke 


croft 


peck 


bug 


o 


broke 


oft 


check 


hug 


122 


coke 





fleck 


jug 


m eal 


j oke 


116 


speck 


lug 


steal 


poke 


t aste 


e 


mug 


d eal 


str oke 


paste 


118 


pug 


heal 


smoke 


haste 


dull 


plug 


seal 


ch oke 


b aste 


hull 


rug 


veal 


y oke 


w aste 


gull 


shr ug 


w eal 


woke 


a 


cull 


slug 


zeal 





116 


skull 


tug 


ea 


125 


wear 


u 


drug 


123 


life 


b ear 


119 


u 


good 


w if e 


swear 


J une 


121 


st ood 


fife 


t ear 


tune 


hole 


h ood 


knife 


pear 


dune 


stole 


w ood 


str if e 


ea 


u 


mole 
[16] 


GO 


i 





THE 


PHONIC CHART 


209 


126 


129 


132 


134 


137 


s ill gle 


e n ough 


end 


1 eave 


h oot 


t in gle 


r ough 


s end 


w eave 


b oot 


m in gle 


t OUgll 


bend 


cl eave 


1 oot 


sh in gle 


on 


bl end 


h eave 


root 


j in gle 


130 


1 end 


ea 


soot 


i 


bud 


mend 


135 


t oot 


127 


m ud 


rend 


d ome 


oo 


c url 


cud 


sp end 


h ome 


138 


furl 


scud 


t end 


gn ome 


roof 


h url 


u 


trend 


R ome 


h oof 


u 


131 


e 


t ome 


proof 


128 


y awn 


133 





w oof 


owl 


dawn 


cliff 


136 


00 


gr owl 


fawn 


stiff 


n ote 


139 


c owl 


lawn 


skiff 


m ote 


cl ev er 


fowl 


p awn 


sn iff 


V ote 


n ev er 


h owl 


sp awn 


whiff 


rote 


s ev er 


pr owl 


br awn 


if 


wr ote 


ever 


ow 


aw 


i 
[17] 


o 


e 



210 


LEAR 


KING TO READ 




140 


143 


146 


149 


152 


oak 


bl aze 


tw ist 


h ard 


c ane 


cl oak 


gl aze 


m ist 


y ard 


V ane 


cr oak 


cr aze 


fist 


1 ard 


bane 


s oak 


gr aze 


gr ist 


bard 


lane 


oa 


h aze 


list 


gu ard 


mane 


141 


a 


h ist 


card 


pane 


felt 


144 


i 


a 


pi ane 


melt 


r oar 


147 


150 


crane 


belt 


s oar 


b ean 


arm 


sane 


dw elt 


b oar 


m ean 


f arm 


w ane 


kn elt 


oar 


clean 


h arm 


a 


p elt 


oa 


lean 


ch arm 


163 


sp elt 


145 


wean 


a 


ask 


e 


m aid 


ea 


151 


b ask 


142 


p aid 


148 


girl 


cask 


eight 


laid 


fern 


wh irl 


flask 


fr eight 


raid 


stern 


tw irl 


m ask 


w eight 


braid 


tern 


sw irl 


task 


e^ 


Sbi 


er 

[18] 


ir 


a 





THE PHONIC 


CHART 


211 


154 


156 


t art 


160 


hush 


m at ter 


d art 


b unch 


br iish 


1 at ter 


chart 


1 unch 


cr ush 


p at ter 


c art 


m unch 


fl ush 


b at ter 


art 


cr unch 


gush 


h at ter 


a 


hunch 


mush 


sp at ter 


158 


p unch 


pi ush 


ch at ter 


boy 


u 


rush 


cl at ter 


joy 


161 


si ush 


pi at ter 


toy 


pi ace 


bl ush 


sc at ter 


coy . 


pace 


thr ush 


sh at ter 


Troy 


race 


u 


sm at ter 


oy 


brace 


155 


t at ter 


159 


trace 


faint 


a 


p ond 


grace 


p aint 


157 


fond 


face 


s aint 


smart 


bond 


lace 


qu aint 


st art 


bl ond 


m ace 


taint 


p art 


frond 


sp ace 


Sii 


m art 





a 



[19] 



212 


LEARNING TO 


READ 




162 


164 


p eel 


168 


169 


own 


str etch 


reel 


m ad 


m ade 


kn own 


wr etch 


kn eel 


rag 


rage 


sh own 


sk etch 


steel 


d am 


d ame 


m own 


fetch 


wh eel 


c an 


c ane 


s own 


etch 


ee 


c ap 


c ape 


str own 


e 


167 


hat 


h ate 


gr own 


166 


brag 


hid 


h ide 


thr own 


c atch 


flag 


mill 


m ile 


bl own 


scr atch 


crag 


d im 


dime 





h atch 


drag 


pin 


p ine 


163 


1 atch 


stag 


rip 


r ipe 


but 


ni atch 


sn ag 


bit 


b ite 


cut 


patch 


slag 


r ob 


robe 


hut 


sn atch 


bag 


r od 


r ode 


n ut 


a 


gag 


Tom 


t ome 


rut 


166 


lag 


not 


n ote 


sh ut 


feel 


rag 


hop 


hope 


strut 


h eel 


tag 


tub 


t ube 


Tl 


keel 


a 

[20] 


cut 


c ute 



170 — a 

base 
c ase 
ch a se 
b a the 
1 a the 
range 
ch a nge 
str a nge 
dan ger 
man ger 
str a n ger 
drape 
crape 
scr a pe 
c able 
table 
st a ble 
m a pie 
st a pie 



THE PHONIC CHART 

171 — ai 
aim 
claim 

w ai t 



d aily 
dairy 



d ai 
r ai 

pi ai 



d ai n ty 

faith 

pr ai se 

str ai ght 

waist 

waif 

a f r ai d 

com pi ai n 

ex pi ai n 

s ai 1 or 

j ai 1 er 
[21] 



ny 
nly 



213 

172 -a 

fact 

tax 

la mb 

c amp 
shr a nk 
wr a n gle 

sad die 
sh a d ow 
cr a ck le 

h and y 

hap pen 
thr a sh 

ham mer 
st a g ger 
cr a b 
st a mp 

g a th er 
scalp 

ban ner 



214 





LEARNING TO READ 




173 -a 


175 — ar 


176 — au 


b ath 


barn 


aunt 


path 


yarn 


d aunt 


dance 


st ar ve 


flaunt 


gl a nee 


scarf 


gaunt 


clasp 


tardy 


haunt 


grasp 


h ar dly 


j aunt 


1 a st ly 


barb 


taunt 


V a st ly 


sharp 


vaunt 


craft 


guard 


1 au nch 


shaft 


st ar ch 


s au nt er 


m a s ter 


ch ar ge 


h au nch 


pi a s ter 


m ar ket 


177 — aw 


174 — aZ 


h ar sh 


haw k 


calf 


marsh 


squ aw k 


half 


hart 


d aw die 


c al ves 


snarl 


awl 


h al ves 


d ar ling 


shawl 


calm 


f ar m er 


fawn 


palm 


a 1 ar m 

[22] 


awe 





THE PHONIC CHART 


215 


178 — a 


179 — au 


181 — ea 


warm 


c ail ght 


str ea m 


w a rm er 


t au ght 


t ea ch er 


w a rmth 


p au se 


squ ea 1 


sw arm 


cau se 


y ea r ly 


ward 


cl au se 


dr ea r 


swa th 


dau b 


dr ea r y 


w a Itz 


fault 


glean 


want 


d au gh ter 


wr ea th 


war 


n au gh ty 


br ea the 


war ble 


sau ce 


pi ea se 


warn 


s au cer 


ease 


wharf 


s au cy 


leaf 


wh a rves 


180 — ee 


1 ea ves 


salt 


b ee ch 


read 


scald 


bee f 


r ea son 


wart 


seem 


tr ea son 


dwarf 


fl eece 


cr ea se 


al ter 


br ee ze 


eager . 


f a 1 ter 


teeth 
[23] 


eagle 



216 


LEARNING TO READ 




182 — e 


183 — 6 


185-gr 


egg 


left 


h er 


1 e ngth 


theft 


h er s 


cr e pt 


e dge 


herd 


e Ise 


w e dge 


h erb 


d e nse 


b e neh 


p erch 


d e pth 


wr e nch 


serve 


desk 


flesh 


term 


ste p 


thr e sh 


verge 


help 


tw e Ifth 


186 — /e 


st e m 


str e ngth en 


brief 


held 


184 — ea 


ch ie f 


web 


d ea th 


th ie f 


p e b ble 


br ea th 


field 


r e b el 


sw eat 


sh ie Id 


tw e Ive 


st ea d y 


y ie Id 


t e nth 


m ea d ow 


n iece 


sh e If 


m ea s ure 


pie r 


next 


pl ea s ure 


p ie rce 


m e d die 


tr ea s ure 
[24] 


f ie rce 





THE PHONIC CHART 


21T. 


187— i 


188 — i 


189- i 


wh ile 


pr i nt 


strip 


sm ile 


w i tch 


wrist 


ripe 


r i d die 


s i s ter 


str i pe 


m i dg et 


scr i pt 


sign 


qii i It 


r i nse 


tr i be 


wr i g gle 


w i dth 


fr i ght en 


tr i g ger 


crib 


br i ght en 


br i t tie 


br i dge 


cr i me 


wr i t ten 


i nch 


ch i me 


pity 


crimp 


sp i re 


gr i m 


gl i mpse 


qn i re 


gl i m mer 


f r i nge 


sigh 


silk 


cr i sp 


sp i ke 


pr i nee 


brisk 


m i Id 


m i X 


d i sh 


s i ze 


d i m pie 


film 


pr i ze 


spr i n kle 


filth 


r i se 


pr i c kle 


sw i tch 


w i se 


cr i ck et 
[25] 


spl i nt 



218 


LEARNING TO READ 




190— ir 


192— oa 


194-6 


fir 


road 


trod 


firm 


loaf 


lodge 


fir st 


1 oa ves 


pr mpt 


third 


oath 


floss 


birth 


soap 


cr o tch 


b ir ch 


oats 


cl th 


shirk 


thr oa t 


tongs 


chirp 


gr oa n 


yon der 


th ir ty 


foam 


be y nd 


th ir teen 


c oa rse 


p ck et 


191—6 


goal 


196— or 


si pe 


b oa st 


n or 


gl be 


b oard 


cord 


p st 


193— 5o 


st or k 


bolt 


r oo st 


st or m 


r de 


g 00 se 


short 


porch 


shoot 


sc or ch 


sport 


poor 


b or der 


wo rn 


st 00 p 
[26] 


c or ner 





THE PHONIC CHART 


219 


196— ou 


198— u 


200-u 


h our 


cube 


d usk 


m outh 


cure 


tuft 


spr ou t 


duke 


p u z zle 


shr ou d 


dupe 


cr u m ble 


mount 


plume 


thr u st 


f ou n tain 


mule 


s u p per 


house 


due 


puppy 


c ouch 


use 


dr u g gist 


ounce 


199-ur 


m u mps 


197-oi 


burn 


judge 


oil 


spur 


- pi u nge 


spoil 


surf 


crumb 


voice 


burst 


cr u tch 


ch oi ce 


church 


swu ng 


join 


curb 


blunt 


coin 


curd 


stuff 


j oint 


purse 


fl u t ter 


moi st 


curve 


pud die 


noise 


hurt 
[27] 


th u n der 



jUN '36 1907 



